Nursing Ethics & Objectives

Nurses are bound by laws, as well as by professional codes of ethics. Nursing ethics and objectives go hand in hand. Nurses are responsible for promoting health and for upholding ethical duties to patients, families, the community and the profession.

Patient

• A nurse's primary objective is the well being of a patient. Nurses are responsible for promoting health, preventing illness, restoring well being and alleviating pain and suffering in patients. Related to these objectives, nurses have an ethical obligation to respect a patient's dignity and personhood. She must be respectful of a patient's creed, culture and religious beliefs. She may not discriminate against a patient on the basis of age, color, disability or illness, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, politics, race or social status. She is also bound to protect the privacy and confidentiality of a patient's information.

Family

• A nurse has an ethical obligation and responsibility to the family of a patient, as well. She renders health services to the individual patient, but human services to the family and loved ones of patients under her care. Specifically, nurses work with families and loves ones to include them in the treatment process, console them, make them comfortable and alleviate their stress during the process. In circumstances in which a patient has assigned heath administration to family members, the nurse must work with doctors to ensure that the family receives sufficient information to make decisions regarding treatment. Further, nurses have an ethical duty to respect the dignity, creed and culture of the family, as well as the patient.

Community

• A nurse also has the objective to promote health in the community. She must collaborate and coordinate with other health and community leaders to initiate and support action that serves the public's health and social needs. Nurses also share an obligation to sustain and protect the environment, as the pollution and degradation of the earth is contrary to public health and well-being.

Profession

• Nurses have an ethical objective and obligation to respect the profession. Under this objective, nurses are responsible for continuing public education and training. They are also responsible for assisting others in the profession to achieve education and training. Specifically, nurses shall share knowledge of the profession with new professionals and allow nursing students and trainees to shadow them to expand the profession and improve it. Nurses also have a duty to maintain cooperative relationships with coworkers and to report coworkers or other health professionals who may present a danger or threat to a patient or to the integrity of the profession.