This research addressed the question: "Should nurses be required to provide care to all patients without exception?" The research examined the changing face of the health care delivery environment in the United States. Issues were addressed in relation to the increasing number of patients afflicted with diseases and conditions such as AIDS which are both communicable in specific circumstances and uncurable at the current level of medical knowledge, and of the reluctance of some health care providers to care for such patients. Issues also were addressed in relation to the circumstances of providing care for a resurgence of patients afflicted with diseases such as tuberculosis, and attitudes and values that might cause nurses to prefer not to care for such patients. Lastly, moral qualms that might affect the willingness of a nurse to provide care for patients in relation to abortion, do not resuscitate orders, and other emotionally charged issues were addressed.
To assess the question concerning a nurse's discretion in defining the characteristics of and conditions applicable to patients to whom care will be provided, the concepts of care and nursing responsibility as these concepts have been framed by Madeleine Leininger, Jean Watson, Patricia Benner, and others were considered. A conclusion was drawn to the effect that the practice of nursing is characterized by a responsibility to provide care to all patients notwithstanding values judgments applied to patients by individual nurses. Introduction
The purpose of this research was to explore the proposition that individual nurses may exercise a prerogative of determining to who care will be delivered. Within the context of this research objective, the following question was investigated herein: "Should nurses be required to provide care to all patients without exception?"
The growing diversity in the structure of the American population, an increase in the incidence of ...