Key ethical issues encountered in healthcare organizations: perceptions of nurse executives.

By the very nature of their daily work, nurse executives find themselves at the crossroads of the changing and challenging healthcare ethical environment in which clinical ethics and organizational ethics often collide. The authors present the findings of a survey of members of American Organization of Nurse Executives aimed at more clearly identifying the key ethical issues encountered in healthcare organizations by their nurse executives and others. Implications of the findings for healthcare organizations and their managers also are discussed briefly.