A staff nurse has been caring for a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) through repeated hospitalizations, and his condition continues to get worse despite multiple treatments. The patient states that he is “ready to die” and wants the doctor to “make him a DNR” (do not resuscitate). The doctor refuses to write the order and instead insists that there is a chance the patient will improve and have some quality of life. The nurse notifi es the chair of the hospital ethics committee about the situation and knows the doctor will most likely be very upset by this development.

What has the nurse displayed by doing this?

1 Moral distress 2 Moral courage 3 Moral uncertainty 4 Moral trepidation AppendixLO1