Safety of nursing professionals before ethical and bioethical problems

Abstract The objective was to identify scientific production on the safety of primary health care nurses before ethical and bioethical issues. This is a review of papers published between January 2013 and August 2018 in the SciELO, Medline, LILACS, BDENF and Coleciona SUS databases, and Ordinances 2,436/2017 and 529/2013 of the Ministry of Health. Twenty-six articles were identified and divided into four thematic categories: occupational safety constructs and safety contexts; ethical and bioethical problems in primary health care; ethics and bioethics education: contributions to decision-making; and perspectives and decisions in experiences of ethical and bioethical problems. In conclusion, professional safety is related to the institution’s ability to establish a culture of safety; and that, before multiple and dynamic factors (personal, professional, and environmental), nurses are faced with ethical and bioethical problems that, if left unresolved, can result in moral distress and insecurity.