WHEN NURSES OBEY OR DEFY INAPPROPRIATE PHYSICIAN ORDERS - ATTRIBUTIONAL DIFFERENCES

Using Milgram's obedience work as background, this study explored nurs es' compliance in carrying out physician orders which were felt to be potentially harmful to the patient. Questionnaires were sent to 500 li censed registered nurses asking them to recall the most recent time th ey either carried out or refused to carry our an inappropriate physici an order. Analyses of demographic data and data related to circumstanc es surrounding the incidents revealed no significant differences betwe en compliant and non-compliant nurses. Importantly, however, attributi on of responsibility for potential harm to the patient differed signif icantly as a function of compliance in a manner consistent with Milgra m's ''agentic state'' concept. In addition, we found evidence that reg ardless of level of compliance physician power is perceived by nurses as primarily legitimate authority.