Nursing ethical issues occurring within the State of Sao Paulo: factual description Ocorrências éticas de enfermagem no Estado de São Paulo: descrição fática

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/19820194201500097 Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Conflict of interest: the authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. Abstract Objective: To describe ethical issues occurring in nursing ethical cases (NECs) judged by the Nursing Council of Sao Paulo (Coren/SP). Methods: Retrospective quantitative study, performed at the Coren/SP. The sample size consisted of 399 documents of nursing professionals obtained in 254 NECs judged in 2012 and 2013. Data was collected through an instrument, which were tabulated and analyzed through descriptive statistics. Results: The category of nursing assistants (46.12%) was the most involved in the cases, with higher prevalence of beginners in the professional exercise, mean age of 36 years. Most issues highlighted were Iatrogenic by omission (22.6%), Iatrogenic by mistake in the administration of medicines (22.1%), crimes or criminal misdemeanor (18.0%). Conclusion: The results were important to identify the characteristics of the issues and the professionals involved and the need to deepen the discussion on the ethical problems in everyday nursing practice.