Nursing Code of Ethics

Butts and Rich (1-26) point out that effective nursing requires both broad knowledge and a set of well developed abilities and skills. The required tasks, are many and varied and in order to do them properly, care must be taken to respect each patient's rights and sensitivities. This is why, according to the authors, nursing care must be guided by a code of ethics. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and discussion of the "Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements" developed by the American Association of Nurses (ANA 1-2).

The ANA's Code of Ethics (1-2) consists of several ethical statements called provisions. There are a total of nine provisions. The first three of these provisions describe ethical values and nurse commitments while the second three provisions address the parameters of nursing obligations and duties as well as loyalties. The final three provisions examine nurses' duties and obligations beyond the general practices associated with caring for individual patients.

The clarity of the code was of strong concern in its development (ANA 1). However, clarity was added by the addition of statements that interpret each provision. What adds additional clarity to the Code is the fact that interpretive statements have been repeatedly revised over the years in an effort to make them more specific in terms of nursing practice as well as more responsive to the contempo

Related Essays

ANA Code of Ethics & a Nursing Case The case presented for analysis with respect to nursing practice and the American Nurses' Association Code of Ethics (2004) is that of Ms. W, a 55-year-old .... (2358 9 )

Ethics in Nursing .... The Nursing Code of Ethics began in 1893 with the "Nightingale Pledge" which was patterned after the Hippocratic Oath in medicine, and is understood as the .... (1228 5 )

Appling the ANA Code of Ethics .... To this writer, the ethical point in the ANA code holding that the nurse .... or the nature of health problems means, in effect, that nursing ethics requires that a .... (1178 5 )

Nursing Case Analysis .... Ms. W and Denial The case presented for analysis with respect to nursing practice and the American Nurses' Association Code of Ethics (2004) is that of Ms. W .... (2367 9 )

Modern Nursing .... and Standards of Practice, which relates to the content of nursing and gives the who, what, when, where and how of nursing; and the Code of Ethics for Nurses .... (811 3 )

Category: Medical - N