Risk and Responsibility in Providing Nursing Care
ANA Position Statement
Revised: June 2015
Purpose
Nurses have a duty to care for patients and are not at liberty to abandon them; however, nurses are challenged to thoughtfully analyze the balance of professional responsibility and risk, including moral obligations and options, in order to preserve the ethical mandates in situations of risk to the nurse or profession.
Statement of ANA Position
The American Nurses Association (ANA) believes that nurses are obligated to care for patients in a nondiscriminatory manner, with respect for all individuals. The ANA recognizes there may be limits to the personal risk of harm nurses can be expected to accept as an ethical duty. Harm includes emotional, psychological, physical or spiritual harm.