In search of basic values

To make ethical decisions, people must be able to assign priorities to competing values. Although health professionals are expected to assign the highest priority to the value of a healthy citizenry, in this period of economic constraint, creating and reinforcing that value is problematic for many health care managers. Their dominant premise--financial survival--conflicts with the basic premise of most physicians and nurses--service to the client. Despite this problem, leaders, now more than ever, must take responsibility for a reexamination of the purpose of health care. If they do not, a new round of government regulation will be initiated to protect patient groups that may be neglected, particularly the indigent, the elderly, and the chronically ill. Training for this responsibility may be accomplished through a humanities component in undergraduate and graduate foundation courses, continuing education workshops and conferences, and leadership task forces that address short-term institutional goals and long-term national objectives.