[Legal issues of Brazilian hyperbaric nursing: why regulate?].

This study aimed to show the needs to standardize nursing care related to hyperbaric oxygenation and regulate working conditions for nursing staff that works on this area. They approach the legislation at the Brazilian Society of Hyperbaric Medicine, on Brazilian Chapter of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, on Regulating Rules of the Ministry of Labor and on the Code of Ethics of Nursing Professionals, as instruments still insufficient to legalize the Hyperbaric Nurse, its procedures in hyperbaric conditions and pressurized environments. It allowed pondering on the disclosure of the state of art of hyperbaric nursing, as well as the incorporation of this activity in relation to the specialties on the COFEN Resolution 290/2004 and postgraduate courses in Nursing.