Six ethical dilemmas related to nursing practice were developed and presented to registered and trainee nurses for their resolution. A non-nurse group of university students also gave decisions about what a nurse should do in each ethically-loaded situation. A dilemma was classified as recurrent if its core problem was spontaneously mentioned by at least five nurses. Twenty-one of these recurrent dilemmas were grouped according to their reflection of underlying issues of: quality of life, maintenance of professional standards, distribution of nursing resources, and information and decision rights in health care. Registered and trainee nurses had similar resolution patterns for dilemmas in four clinical situations. More registered nurses than trainees were willing to give a patient information against doctor's orders, and to refrain from vigorous resuscitation of a malformed newborn infant. University students and other non-nurse groups were less cautious than trainees in advocating the divulgence of information, and were less willing than both nurse groups to refrain from vigorous resuscitation of the newborn. The importance of discovering nurses' patterns of ethical choice for nurses is discussed in light of study findings, and a literature review on relevant issues is included. (Author/SW)