The Code applies to and supports the nurse in a steadfast way across various settings and in a variety of nursing roles. For example, it’s critical when nurses face issues such as decision-making regarding an assignment or delegation of tasks, caring for patients at end of life, and patient confidentiality or privacy. It’s an important tool that can be used to support and leverage a better future for nurses, patients, and healthcare.
Nurses are change agents who can take action to change aspects of social structures that detract from health and well-being. The Code can be applied to the sociopolitical, economic, interdependent, and environmental context of all humanity; it also can be used to support change and focus on the most important moral challenges of the 21st century.
As nursing and its social context evolve and change, so does the Code, which has been revised as needed over the years. The provisions in the Code are broad, noncontextual statements of nurse obligations. The interpretive statements provide more specific guidance in the Code’s application to practice. As professionals, nurses need to articulate ethical aspects of their practice and be able to support practice decisions when confronted or questioned. Using the Code promotes ethical nursing practice.
— Response by Kathryn Schroeter, PhD, MA-Bioethics, RN, CNOR, CNE, member of the ANA Ethics and Human Rights Advisory Board.
