Code of Ethics for Nurses

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the history of nursing ethics. It first looks at issues of conduct and moral behavior as detailed by Florence Nightingale in 1893. The paper then describes and discusses the nine codes of ethics for nurses and their implications. The paper also discusses how nursing ethics differs from medical ethics. The paper concludes that in the modern era, the ethics of nursing has shifted toward the promotion of patient's rights.

From the Paper:

"Though much of nursing ethics has resulted from medical ethics, there are a few factors that set it apart from this. The key distinction is that paternalism, which is often a key element in theories of medical ethics, is generally not attuned with nursing ethics. This is because nursing theory seeks a shared relationship with the person in their case. It, as a result, emphasizes autonomy of the person being nursed over paternalistic practice where the health professional seeks to do what they believe to be in the person's or society's best interest. Codes of ethics for nurses have a tendency to be written in the ethical structure of deontology and are thus based on the rights of the patient and the duties of the nurse rather than on practical concerns of the consequences mitigating the act."

Sample of Sources Used:

• American Nurses Association. (2001). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Washington: American Nurses Publishing.

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