Learn about examples of the code of ethics for nurses and how they guide ethical practice and quality patient care.An ethical code for nurses helps the moral and professional principles for the exercise of work activities.
Taking into account the most important role in modern society of the most widespread of medical professions – the profession of a nurse, taking into account the traditionally great importance of the ethical principle in medicine and health care, guided by the documents on medical ethics of the International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organization.
Code of Ethics for Nurses Examples
The humane role of a nurse in society creates the basis for the requirements of the legal protection of the personal dignity of a nurse, physical integrity and the right to assistance in the performance of her professional duties both in peacetime and in wartime.
The standard of living of a nurse must correspond to the status of her profession. The amount of the fee determined by a private nurse must be commensurate with the volume and quality of medical care provided, the degree of her competence, and special circumstances in each specific case.
The Nurse and the Patient
. Nurse and the patient’s right to quality medical care
A nurse must respect the inalienable rights of every person to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and to receive adequate medical care. A nurse is obliged to provide quality medical care to the patient, which meets the principles of humanity and professional standards. A nurse bears moral responsibility for her activities to the patient, colleagues and society. It is the professional and ethical duty of a nurse to provide, within the limits of her competence, emergency medical care to any person in need of it.
The main condition of nursing activity is professional competence
A nurse must always observe and support professional standards of activity determined by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Continuous improvement of special knowledge and skills, raising one’s cultural level is the primary professional duty of a nurse. A nurse must be competent in relation to the moral and legal rights of a patient.
Humane treatment of the patient, respect for his legal rights
A nurse must place compassion and respect for the patient’s life above all else. A nurse must respect the patient’s right to relief of suffering to the extent that the current level of medical knowledge allows. A nurse has no right to participate in torture, executions, or other forms of cruel and inhuman treatment of people. A nurse has no right to assist a patient in committing suicide.
The nurse is responsible, within the limits of her competence, for ensuring the patient’s rights, proclaimed by the World Medical Association, the World Health Organization and enshrined in the legislation.
Respect for the patient’s human dignity
A nurse must be constantly ready to provide competent care to patients regardless of their age or sex, nature of the disease, race or nationality, religious or political beliefs, social or financial status or other differences. When providing care, a nurse must respect the patient’s right to participate in the planning and implementation of treatment. Manifestations of arrogance, disdainful attitude or humiliating treatment of a patient are unacceptable.
A nurse has no right to impose her moral, religious or political beliefs on a patient. When establishing the order of providing medical care to several patients, a nurse must be guided only by medical criteria, excluding any discrimination. In cases requiring medical indications to control the patient’s behavior, a nurse should limit her interference in the patient’s personal life exclusively to professional necessity.
First, do no harm
A nurse has no right to violate the ancient ethical commandment of medicine “First of all – do no harm!” A nurse has no right to be indifferent to the actions of third parties seeking to cause such harm to the patient. The actions of a nurse in caring for the patient, any other medical interventions associated with pain and other temporary negative phenomena are permissible only in his interests. “The cure should not be worse than the disease.” When performing medical interventions fraught with risk, a nurse is obliged to provide for safety measures, stopping complications that threaten the life and health of the patient.
Nurse and the patient’s right to information
A nurse must be truthful and honest. It is the moral duty of a nurse to inform the patient of his rights. She must respect the patient’s right to receive information about his health, the possible risks and benefits of proposed treatment methods, the diagnosis and prognosis, as well as his right to refuse information altogether.
Considering that the function of informing the patient and his relatives primarily belongs to the doctor, the nurse has the moral right to convey professional information only with the consent of the attending physician as a member of the team serving the patient. In exceptional cases, the nurse has the right to withhold professional information from the patient if she is convinced that such information will cause him serious harm.
. Nurse and the patient’s right to agree to or refuse medical intervention
A nurse must respect the right of the patient or his/her legal representative (when dealing with a child or an incompetent mentally ill person) to consent to or refuse any medical intervention. A nurse must be sure that consent or refusal is given by the patient voluntarily and consciously. It is the moral and professional duty of a nurse to explain to the patient, to the best of her/his qualifications, the consequences of refusing a medical procedure. A patient’s refusal should not affect his/her situation or negatively affect the attitude of the nurse and other medical workers towards him/her.
A nurse has the right to provide assistance without the patient’s consent (or without the consent of the legal representative of an incompetent patient – a child under 15 or an incompetent mentally ill person) only in strict accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. When providing medical assistance to incompetent patients, a nurse must, as far as the condition of such patients allows, involve them in the decision-making process.
Article 8. Duty to maintain professional secrecy
A nurse must keep confidential from third parties information entrusted to her or that has become known to her by virtue of performing professional duties about the patient’s health condition, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis of his disease, as well as about the patient’s personal life, even in the event of the patient’s death. A nurse is obliged to strictly fulfill her functions to protect confidential information about patients, no matter in what form it is stored. A nurse has the right to disclose confidential information about a patient to any third party only with the consent of the patient.
The right of a nurse to transfer information to other specialists and medical workers providing medical care to a patient presupposes the patient’s consent. A nurse has the right to transfer confidential information without the patient’s consent only in cases stipulated by law. In this case, the patient must be informed of the inevitability of disclosure of confidential information. In all other cases, a nurse bears personal moral, and sometimes legal, responsibility for disclosure of a professional secret.
9. Nurse and dying patient
A nurse must respect the right of the dying person to humane treatment and a dignified death. A nurse must have the necessary knowledge and skills in the field of palliative medical care, which gives the dying person the opportunity to end their life with the maximum achievable physical, emotional and spiritual comfort. The primary moral and professional duties of a nurse are: preventing and alleviating suffering, usually associated with the dying process; providing psychological support to the dying person and his family. Euthanasia, that is, deliberate actions by a nurse with the aim of ending the life of a dying patient, even at his request, is unethical and unacceptable.
A nurse must treat a deceased patient with respect. Religious and cultural traditions must be taken into account when handling the body. A nurse must respect the rights of citizens regarding pathological autopsies, as enshrined in the legislation of the Russian Federation.
10. Nurse as a participant in scientific research and the educational process
A nurse should strive to participate in research activities, in increasing knowledge in her profession. In research activities involving a person as an object, a nurse is obliged to strictly follow international documents on medical ethics (the Declaration of Helsinki, etc.) and the legislation of the Russian Federation. The interests of the patient’s personality for a nurse should always be higher than the interests of society and science. When participating in scientific research, a nurse is obliged to especially strictly ensure the protection of those patients who are unable to take care of this themselves (children, people with severe mental disorders). Patient participation in the educational process is permissible only with the same guarantees for the protection of their rights.
Respect for one’s profession
A nurse must maintain the authority and reputation of her profession. Neatness and personal hygiene are an integral quality of a nurse’s personality. A nurse has personal moral responsibility for maintaining, implementing and improving nursing standards. She should not claim a degree of competence that she does not possess. It is the right and duty of a nurse to defend her moral, economic and professional independence. A nurse must refuse gifts and flattering offers from a patient if they are based on his desire to achieve a privileged position compared to other patients. A nurse has the right to accept gratitude from a patient if it is expressed in a form that does not destroy the human dignity of both, does not contradict the principles of justice and decency and does not violate legal norms. Intimate relationships with a patient are condemned by medical ethics. A nurse’s behavior should not be an example of a negative attitude to health.
Nurse and her colleagues
A nurse must pay a tribute of due respect to her teachers. In relationships with colleagues, a nurse must be honest, fair and decent, recognize and respect their knowledge and experience, their contribution to the treatment process. A nurse is obliged to help colleagues in the profession to the best of her knowledge and experience, counting on the same help from them, and also to assist other participants in the treatment process, including volunteers. A nurse is obliged to respect the long-standing tradition of her profession – to provide medical care to a colleague free of charge. Attempts to gain authority by discrediting colleagues are unethical.
The moral and professional duty of a nurse is to help a patient carry out the treatment program prescribed by a doctor. A nurse is obliged to accurately and professionally perform medical manipulations prescribed by a doctor. High professionalism of a nurse is the most important moral factor of comradely, collegial relations between a nurse and a doctor. Familiarity, the non-official nature of relations between a doctor and a nurse in the performance of their professional duties are condemned by medical ethics. If a nurse doubts the appropriateness of the doctor’s treatment recommendations, she must tactfully discuss this situation first with the doctor himself, and if doubts persist, then with higher management.
Nurse and questionable medical practice
A nurse, when faced with illegal, unethical or incompetent medical practice, must defend the interests of the patient and society. A nurse must know the legal norms governing nursing, the health care system in general and the use of traditional medicine (healing) methods in particular. A nurse has the right to seek support from state health authorities, the Association of Nurses, taking measures to protect the interests of the patient from questionable medical practice.