[Ethics, power and duty].

Nursing care is a humane action which bears with it an ethical dimension which is revealed by the focus of the care provided. Among the different options for action, a nurse will choose that which contributes to the care of a patient without harming that patient. The care choice made is the result of a conscientious, deliberate decision-making process which presupposes a recognition of what one plans to do, what one is capable of doing and what can accomplish. Freedom to choose which care option is applied imposes on a nurse the duty to act according to principles and duties which rule the profession; a nurse's power to act transforms to a power of the duty to provide treatment.