title: Ethical conflicts and the process of reflection in undergraduate nursing students in Brazil.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nursing students on clinical placements as part of their professional training are routinely faced with situations involving ethical conflicts. The initial act of perceiving a situation as causing an ethical dilemma is the result of both the students' personal values, drawn from their culture and families, and of the professional knowledge and values that they have acquired through training and experience.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Nursing students' experiences on clinical placements in primary care settings were investigated in order to identify situations that they perceived as involving ethical conflict and describe the elements they took into consideration during their decision-making processes in these situations.
  
  
  METHODS
  The research design was qualitative descriptive case study. Around 50 students from three different intakes to a nursing degree answered a questionnaire and discussed it in focus groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was designed in accordance with the principles guiding research with human beings and was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Synthesised into two principal axes: (a) ethical conflicts in primary care, linked with the domains of working processes, professional nursing ethics and human and social rights and (b) students' decision-making processes - realisation, reflection and intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The student nurses saw themselves both as actors and spectators in situations involving ethical problems and demanding moral deliberation, demonstrating the ability to base their arguments soundly. They tended to emphasise the possibilities offered by dialogue and that different ethical values must be respected to find fair solutions to ethical problems.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil flavia.ramos@ufsc.br.
authors.forename: Flávia Regina Souza
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Laura Cavalcanti de Farias
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Brehmer
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mara Ambrosina
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Paula
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Trombetta
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana Ramos
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Silveira
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors.forename: Laila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Drago
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D003657:Decision Making; D004506:Education, Nursing; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses' / Q000941:ethics*; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Ethics in primary care; nursing education; nursing ethics; nursing schools; nursing students