An ethical portrait of a palliative and long-term care nurse

Introduction. Nursing is art, science and, above all, service. One of the most important expressions of humanism. It requires mastering specific knowledge and appropriate skills. Nurturing aims to help people to live better and ma intain their health, and when they are ill, they should contribute to the healing process as soon as possible. All these activities should be carried out in compliance with ethical principles. The high topicality of the subject matter prompted me to undert ake my own research.Aim of the study. The aim of the research was to create an ethical portrait of a nurse working in palliative and long term care.Materials and methods.The study included 101 nurses working in randomly selected palliative and/or long-term and/or hospice care facilities in the Mazowieckie Voivodeship. In the study, the method of a diagnostic survey, a questionnaire technique and, as a research tool, an author's questionnaire were used.Results and Conclusions. The research reveals an ethical portrait of a contemporary professional nurse working in palliative and long-term care:1. It's a person for whom truth, goodness and fairness are the leading factors in his or her professional career.2. These values are also the most important in their non-professional lives.3. A nurse shall strive to observe ethical principles in all professional circumstances.4. At the same time, she is a tolerant person who accepts the different views of others. the strongest motivators for ethical professional conduct are human misfortune and the need to do good.