Nursing ethics and its relation with power and work organization

Abstract

Difficulties faced in the nursing routine, mainly in hospitals, have been reported without the resulting ethical implications to workers and especially to clients, been sufficiently questioned. The work organization can be the main source of suffering to nursing workers, related to the exercise of power of different actors involved in the health institutions, which can potentially cause multiple problems and distress of ethical order. This study aims to make a critical reflection about some relations between the nursing work organization, power relations and its ethical dimension. Strategies for an ethical performance of nurses and other nursing professionals in the organization of work in the healthcare institutions point to the need of these professionals exercise power in an ethical way.