ANA Code of Ethics

In 1995, action of the direction of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Congress on Nursing Practice and Board of Directors, work began on the review, evaluation, and revision of the Code for Nurses (1985). The ANA House of Delegates approved the revised Cod of Ethics for Nurses (2001) in late June 2001. Several revisions were made in the language of the code, such as the use of the word "patient" instead of the word "client", and the length of the code was reduced from 11 to 9 statements. ANA president Mary Foley stated that the revised Code of Ethics for Nurses more accurately reflects issues facing nurses today, such as the nurse's right to work within a safe environment, the primacy of the patients interests, the importance of patient advocacy, and the obligation of the profession to protect the health of the public.

1. The nurse in all professional relations, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.
2. The nurse's primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, or community.
3. The nurse promotes, advocates for and strives to protect the health, safety and rights of the patient.
4. The nurse is responsible and accountable for individual nursing practice and determines the appropriate delegation of tasks consistent with the nurse's obligation to provide optimum patient care.
5. The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to preserve integrity and safety, to maintain competence and to continue personal and professional growth.
6. The nurse participates in establishing, maintaining and improving healthcare environments and conditions of employment conducive to the provision of quality healthcare and consistent with the values of the profession through individual and collective action.
7. The nurse participates in the advancement of the profession though contributions to practice, education, administration, and knowledge development.
8. The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public in promoting community, national, and international efforts to meet health needs.
9. The profession of nursing, as represented by associations and their members, is responsible for articulating nursing values, for maintaining the integrity of the profession and its practice and for shaping social policy.

National Student Nurses Association

Code of Professional Conduct

As a member of the National Student Nurses’ Association I pledge myself to:
• Maintain the highest standard of personal and professional conduct.
• Actively promote and encourage the highest level of ethics within nursing education, the profession of nursing, and the student nurses’ association.
• Uphold all Bylaws and regulations relating to the Student Nurses’ Association at the chapter, state, and national levels, reserving the right to criticize rules and
laws constructively, but respecting the rules and laws as long as they prevail.
• Strive for excellence in all aspects of decision-making and management at all levels of the Student Nurses’ Association.
• Use only legal and ethical principles in all association decisions and activities.
• Ensure the proper use of all association funds.
• Serve all members of the Student Nurses’ Association impartially, provide no special privilege to any individual member, and accept no personal compensation from another member or non-member.
• Maintain the confidentially of privileged information entrusted or known to me by virtue of an elected or appointed position in the association.
• Refuse to engage in, or condone, discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age, citizenship, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability.
• Refrain from any form of cheating of dishonesty, and take action to report dishonorable practices to proper authorities using established channels.
• Always communicate internal and external association statements in a truthful and accurate manner by ensuring that there is integrity in the data and information used by the student nurses’ association.
• Cooperate in every reasonable and proper way with association volunteers and staff, and work with them in the advocacy of student rights and responsibilities and the advancement of the profession of nursing.
• Use every opportunity to improve faculty understanding of the role of the Student Nurses Association.
• Use every opportunity to raise awareness of the Student Nurses’ Association’s mission, purpose, and goals at the school chapter level.
• Promote and encourage entering nursing students to join and become active in NSNA.
• Promote and encourage graduating seniors to continue their involvement by joining professional nurses’ association upon licensure as Registered Nurses.