Ethics of Care and Nursing Care

Abstract

Introduction. Nursing care has an ethical connotation reflected in the attributes that the exercise of duty implies, established mainly in the Code of Professional Ethics, while the ethics of virtues appeals to the development of values. Authors such as Gilligan, Noddigns and Tronto have contributed from the ethics of care, as ethical-theoretical references to the field of feminized nursing. Objective. Describe the contribution of the Ethics of care to professional nursing. Methodology. A theoretical reflection that aims to increase the understanding of care based on the conceptual and epistemological frameworks developed by the authors reviewed. Results and Discussion. The manuscript was organized describing the a) concepts considered key in the Ethics of care, b) Gilligan and the Ethics of care, and finally, b) the contribution made by Tronto and Noddigns who have broadened the discussion about care at a universal level, contributing to informal care as a professional. Conclusions. The Ethics of Care has allowed the development of conceptual frameworks that facilitate the understanding of care in a universal way, giving it a fundamental status for life in society. Recovering the ethical virtues for care in a fair balance with duty, contributes to nursing re-evaluating the emotional in the helping relationship it establishes with patients and communities.