Authors

Agustina Díaz Sánchez, Gisela Sánchez Martínez

Position

Enfermera y Matrona del Hospital de Fuenlabrada de Madrid. Licenciadas en Antropología Social y Cultural por la UAM. Título Superior en Ciencias de la Salud por la UAM.

Abstract

The practice of care has constituted itself as a profession throughout history and as such, it has to offer essential services for the wellbeing of people. The way in which this service is rendered is something vitally important for the life of health and even the dignity of the healthcare users. Thus, the professional practice is inexcusably accompanied by a moral responsibility and a continuous reflexion exercise of daily routines.
General objective: To give some thought to the ethics behind the practice of the nursing profession thorough the development of the professional’s own moral responsibilities.
Specific objectives: To provide knowledge on bioethics, clarifying concepts on this professional dimension. To give some thought to the habits and virtues appropriate for the performance of the profession. To teach methods to think about the ethical problems, tools and discipline required by the profession. To facilitate coherence in the thinking and in the value scale of each individual.

Methodology: the methodology used consists in the analysis of a clinical case as a reflection tool and thorough method, as well as the learning of a methodology adequate to deal with complex situations that might come up during the exercise of the profession from an ethical point of view.
Discussion: the text is intended to be useful for those who are interested in the morally responsible exercise of the profession. The use of a clinical case in the teaching of Ethics has its risks, because of this; we would like to warn about the possibility of situations being exaggerated to distinguish ways to approach the situation more easily. This can lead to a situation where the morals are presented as a matter full of conflict and controversy. To prevent this from happening, emphasis is placed transversally on the moral principles that guide us, legitimising the different approaches and value scales in a plural society as ours.
Conclusions: We look at the challenge of humanising labour in a way that allows women to exert their autonomy and on the urgency to introduce an approach with greater sensitivity to social phenomena in the healthcare provided to balance out the impending biologism.
The “how to be able to carry out this task” has to do with the need to look for cooperation between intervening parties in the healthcare relation in a symmetric way, rationally supporting our decisions and allowing the affected parties to be heard and to manage at the same time the information relating to the consequences of our possible actions. A process that ends in a mutual understanding and continued dialogue.

Keywords:

professional ethics; nursing; labour; humanisationmoral responsibility

Versión en Español

Título:

Cuando el problema del parto no está en el qué sino en el cómo hacer: crítica desde la bioética