Abstract
OBJECTIVES: to outline the teaching of ethics in undergraduate Nursing programs in Brazilian public higher education institutions. METHODS: descriptive and exploratory study, carried out through the documentary analysis of pedagogical projects of undergraduate Nursing programs in Brazil. RESULTS: 153 active undergraduate Nursing programs were found, of which 106 provide the pedagogical project. In addition to deontological teaching, the teaching of ethics was identified in a transversal way associated with themes such as Social Context, Hospital and Community Care, Pharmacology, Systematization of Nursing Care, Surgical Nursing, Epidemiology, Palliative Care, Management in Nursing, Diversity, Women's, Children's, Adolescent's, Adult's and Older People's Health, and Mental Health. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: the challenge in teaching nursing ethics is its integration with each action of caring, teaching and managing.