[Bioethics: a proposal for decision making. Towards a weighed syncretism]. / Bioética. Una propuesta para la toma de decisiones. Hacia un sincretismo ponderado.

The professional nursing business bears with it ethical problems related to scientific and technical development, the ethical-cultural plurality in our society and changes in clinical relationships. This situation has generated a crisis in classical decision-making models which has led to a point where we confront a new reality that requires an adequate adjustment not only to technical criteria but, moreover, to moral criteria. The challenge we undertake implies a search for concrete solutions to concrete problems in concrete instances, and what is most important, related to concrete persons. The procedures for decision making which have been proposed up until now should not be viewed as exclusive rather as complementary and enriching ones in the quest to find the best possible solutions; along this line we propose, from a weighed syncretism aspect, a procedure not thought of only for use in great conflicts but rather and mainly, to resolve daily problems.

[Evaluation of bioethical aspects in health professionals]. / Evaluación de aspectos bioéticos en los profesionales de la salud.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate training in bioethics, as well as knowledge and perceptions of bioethical issues, among health professionals. METHOD: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in 2005 by means of a validated questionnaire. The study population consisted of the health team working in the cardiology area in the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital. RESULTS: There were 186 health professionals, and 117 questionnaires were returned, representing 63.5% of the study population: 58 nurses (49.5%), 23 physicians (19.6%), and 34 nursing auxiliaries. More than half (64.6%) had no training in bioethics. The health professionals with the most training in bioethics were those with more than 20 years' experience (p = 0.019). Less than half (45.7%) knew of the existence (p = 0.004) or the content (p = 0.03) of law 41/2002. A total of 12.8% believed that users knew their rights. Health professionals with no bioethics training were those most likely to believe that users' confidentiality (p = 0.002) and privacy (p = 0.039) were always or usually respected. More than one third (37.8%) reported facing bioethical problems in their professional activity. CONCLUSION: The members of the health team have insufficient knowledge of bioethics parallel to low levels of training in this discipline and perceive insufficient respect for users' basic rights. Training in bioethics should be increased, and information pathways should be established in institutions to allow continual adaptation to ethical and legal requirements.