Moral Obligations of Nurses Based on the ICN,UK,Irish and Polish Codes of Ethics for Nurses

Abstract

A code of professional conduct is a collection of norms appropriate for the nursing profession and should be the point of reference for all decisions made during the care process. Codes of ethics for nurses are formulated by members of national nurses’ organizations. These codes can be considered to specify general norms that function in the relevant society, adjusting them to the character of the profession and enriching them with rules signifying the essence of nursing professionalism. The aim of this article is to present a comparative analysis of codes of ethics for nurses: the ICN’s Code of ethics for nurses, the UK’s Code of professional conduct, the Irish Code of professional conduct for each nurse and midwife, and the Polish Code of professional ethics for nurses and midwives. This analysis allows the identification of common elements in the professional ethics of nurses in these countries.

Keywords

codes of professional conduct moral obligations nurses’ professional ethics

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

International Council of Nurses . Code of ethics for nurses. ICN , 2005.

Nursing and Midwifery Council . Code of professional conduct: standards for conduct, performance and ethics. NMC , 2004.

An Bord Altranais (The Nursing Board) . The code of professional conduct for each nurse and midwife. An Bord Altranais , 2000.

NRPiP (Nurses and Midwives Council) . The code of professional ethics for nurses and midwives in Poland. NRPiP , 2003.

Środa M.

Argumenty za i przeciw etyce zawodowej. (Arguments for and against professional ethics.)

Etyka (Ethics) 1994; 27: 167-169 (in Polish).

Oulton JA. ICN’s code of ethics for nurses: serving nurses and nursing care world-wide . Int Nurs Rev 2000; 47: 137-137 .

Ghebrehiwet T. Helping nurses make ethical decisions. 2005. Retrieved 14 November, 2005, from: http://www.nursingsociety.org/RNL/Current/features/feature6.html

Tadd W , Clarke A , Lloyd L et al. The value of nurses’ codes: European nurses’ views . Nurs Ethics 2006; 13: 376-393 .

Verpeet E , Dierckx de Casterlé B , Lemiengre J , Gastmans C. Belgian nurses’ views on codes of ethics: development, dissemination, implementation . Nurs Ethics 2006; 13: 531-545 .

10.

Barazzetti G , Radaelli S , Sala R. Autonomy, responsibility and the Italian code of deontology for nurses . Nurs Ethics 2007; 14: 83-98 .

11.

Ethical codes in Nursing: European perspective on content and functioning. 2001-2004. Retrieved 14 April, 2004, from: http://www.zw.unimaas.nl/ecn

12.

Tschudin V. Ethics in nursing: the caring relationship, second revised edition. Butterworth-Heinemann , 1992.

13.

Seedhouse D , Gallagher A. Undignifying institutions . J Med Ethics 2002; 28: 368-372 .

14.

Galuszka M , Szewczyk K. Wprowadzenie. (Introduction.) In: Galuszka M , Szewczyk K eds. Narodziny i śmierć. Bioetyka kulturowa wobec stanów granicznych ludzkiego życia. (Birth and death. Cultural bioethics in the presence of boundary situations in human life.) PWN , 2002: 7-15 (in Polish).

15.

Lazari-Pawlowska I. Etyki zawodowe jako role spoleczne. (Professional ethics as social roles.) In: Sarapata A ed. Etyka zawodowa. (Professional ethics.) KiW , 1971: 65-67 (in Polish).

16.

Esterhuizen P.

Is the professional code still the cornerstone of clinical nursing practice?

J Adv Nurs 2006; 53: 104-110 ; discussion 111-13.

17.

Gastmans C , Verpeet E.

More research still needed to fully answer this question! [Discussion]

J Adv Nurs 2006; 53: 111-112 .

18.

Fry ST. Ethics in nursing practice. A guide to ethical decision making. International Council of Nurses , 1994. (Polish edition published by the Polish Nursing Association, 1997.)