Ethical and human rights concerns of Connecticut nurses: Survey and implications for the profession

A survey of a random sample of Connecticut registered nurses' experiences w ith issues of ethics and human rights found a strong locus on protecting pa tient rights and dignity, adequacy of staffing patterns, informed consent, and respecting advance directives. Ethics committees were commonly availabl e but were infrequently used. Participants reported high levels of ethics e ducation but also desired more such education. The character of the issues is consistent with other studies and largely reflects conflicts over which nurses do not have independent control. Consideration is given to issues of nursed moral agency in health care organizations.