Background: Ethical theory is no longer isolated from empirical research. There are few studies on what influence ethical decisions of health professionals in primary care. Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyse the ethical attitudes of health professionals in dealing with patients.
Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study involving doctors and nurses. A scale to assess the professionals' ethical attitudes was built, validated with a pre-test, pilot study and the application of Cronbach's Alpha and used through a selfadministered questionnaire. The setting of the study was the Health Centres of the Regional Health Authority of the Central Region of Portugal.
Results: The author received questionnaires from 370 health professionals: 180 physicians and 190 nurses. The ethical attitudes of health professionals do not seem to be influenced by gender or age. However, doctors when compared to nurses seem to have stronger ethical attitudes in their relationship with patients, as well as health professionals with more years of activity, as working in the health sub-region of Viseu and Aveiro, and in urban areas.
Conclusions: Ethical problems in primary health care are daily health care concerns. Doctors and nurses are concerned with preserving the ethics of their attitudes towards patients. More studies and training are needed at the interface of bioethics with primary care.

Keyword: Ethics, Primary Health Care, Attitudes Scale, Family Practice, Nursing.

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