title: [Bioethics and primary care: an outline of ethical problems experienced by nurses and physicians in the Family Health Program, São Paulo, Brazil].
abstract: This is a qualitative empirical study of descriptive ethics conducted with nurses and physicians working in the Family Health Program (FHP) in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The objective was to identify ethical problems experienced by these professionals, who were asked to record ethical problems they had faced through a short written description of such events. The results revealed ethical problems involving patients and their families, the health team, organization, and the health system. The study addresses ethical issues permeating daily health care practice and requiring immediate solutions, rather than the classical dilemmas usually found in bioethics literature. The peculiarity of ethical problems in primary care may hinder their identification as such and jeopardize the relationships upon which the FHP is built.
authors.affiliation: Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. elma@usp.br
authors.forename: Elma Lourdes Campos Pavone
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Zoboli
authors.forename: Paulo Antonio de Carvalho
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Fortes
mesh_terms: D026688:Bioethical Issues; D001938:Brazil; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D005192:Family Health; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000941:ethics*; D024382:Professional Role; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D015397:Program Evaluation