This article considers ethical dilemmas that nurse managers may confront and suggests an ethical decision-making model that could be used as a tool for resolving such dilemmas. The focus of the article is on the question: Can nurse managers choose the ethically right solution in conflicting situations when nurses’ rights collide with patients’ rights to quality care in a world of cost-effective and economic constraint? Managers’ responsibility is to ensure and facilitate a safe and ethical working environment in which nurses (...) are able to give quality care to their patients. In nursing it is frequently declared that managers’ main obligations are to patients’ needs and their rights to receive quality care. However, managers’ ethical responsibilities are not only to patients but also to the nurses working in their institution. This article describes a real (but disguised) situation from an Israeli health care context to illustrate the dilemmas that may arise. The question is posed of whether nurse managers can maintain patients’ and nurses’ rights and, at the same time, fulfill their obligation to the conflicting demands of the organization. The article also offers a way to solve conflict by using an ethical decision-making model. (shrink)

The ICN 1973 Code for nurses states that 'Nurses render health services to the individual, the family and the community...'. It goes on to say that, 'The nurse's primary respon sibility is to those people who require nursing care.' Thus, our primary responsibility to provide comprehensive care to patients and their families is a concept we teach and preach, but can it be achieved? In this paper, I would like to present the ethical dilemmas expressed by nurses as inherent in (...) the care of patients and their families, address the difficulties in treating patients and their families in the light of these dilemmas and propose a different approach to dealing with the problem. (shrink)