CODE OF ETHICS FOR NURSES International person and in all media, including social media.

Code of Ethics 6. Nurses share with society the responsibility for

initiating and supporting action to meet the
Preamble: Nurses have four fundamental
health and social needs of all people. 7. Nurses
responsibilities: to promote health, to prevent
advocate for equity and social justice in resource
illness, to restore health, and alleviate suffering.
allocation, access to health care and other social
The need for nursing is universal. Inherent in
and economic services. 8. Nurses demonstrate
nursing is respect for human rights, including the
professional values such as respect, justice,
right to life, dignity and to be treated with
responsiveness, caring, compassion, empathy,
respect. Nursing care is unrestricted by
trustworthiness and integrity. They support and
considerations of age, color, creed, culture,
respect the dignity and universal rights of all
disability or illness, gender, nationality, politics,
people, including patients, colleagues and
race, or social status. The ICN Code The ICN Code
families. 9. Nurses facilitate a culture of safety in
of Ethics for Nurses has four principal elements
health care environments, recognising and
that provide a framework for ethical conduct: 1.
addressing threats to people and safe care in
nurses and patients or other people requiring
health practices, services and settings. 10.
care or services 2. nurses and practice 3. nurses
Nurses provide evidence-informed,
and the profession 4. nurses and global health.
personcentred care, recognising and using the
Nurses and Patients or other people requiring
values and principles of primary health care and
care or services. 1. Nurses’ primary professional
health promotion across the lifespan. 11. Nurses
responsibility is to people requiring nursing care
ensure that the use of technology and scientific
and services now or in the future, whether
advances are compatible with the safety, dignity
individuals, families, communities or populations
and rights of people. In the case of artificial
(hereinafter referred to as either ‘patients’ or
intelligence or devices, such as care robots or
‘people requiring care’). 2. Nurses promote an
drones, nurses ensure that care remains person-
environment in which the human rights, values,
centred and that such devices support and do
customs, religious and spiritual beliefs of the
not replace human relationships. Nurses and
individual, families and communities are
Practice 1. Nurses carry personal responsibility
acknowledged and respected by everyone.
and accountability for ethical nursing practice,
Nurses’ rights are included under human rights
and for maintaining competence by engaging in
and should be upheld and protected. 3. Nurses
continuous professional development and
ensure that the individual and family receive
lifelong learning. 2. Nurses maintain fitness to
understandable, accurate, sufficient and timely
practice so as not to compromise their ability to
information in a manner appropriate to the
provide quality, safe care. 3. Nurses practice
patient’s culture, linguistic, cognitive and
within the limits of their individual competence
physical needs, and psychological state on which
and regulated or authorised scope of practice
to base consent for care and related treatment.
and use professional judgement when accepting
4. Nurses hold in confidence personal
and delegating responsibility 4. Nurses value
information and respect the privacy,
their own dignity, well-being and health. To
confidentiality and interests of patients in the
achieve this requires positive practice
lawful collection, use, access, transmission,
environments, characterised by professional
storage and disclosure of personal information.
recognition, education, reflection, support
5. Nurses respect the privacy and confidentiality
structures, adequate resourcing, sound
of colleagues and people requiring care and
management practices and occupational health
uphold the integrity of the nursing profession in
and safety. 5. Nurses maintain standards of
personal conduct at all times. They reflect well
on the profession and enhance its image and
public confidence. In their professional role,
nurses recognise and maintain personal
relationship boundaries. 6. Nurses share their
knowledge and expertise and provide feedback,
mentoring and supporting the professional
development of student nurses, novice nurses,
colleagues and other health care providers. 7.
Nurses are patient advocates, and they maintain
a practice culture that promotes ethical
behaviour and open dialogue. 8. Nurses may
conscientiously object to participating in
particular procedures or nursing or health-
related research but must facilitate respectful
and timely action to ensure that people receive
care appropriate to their individual needs. 9.
Nurses maintain a person’s right to give and
withdraw consent to access their personal,
health and genetic information. They protect the
use, privacy and confidentiality of genetic
information and human genome technologies
10. Nurses take appropriate actions to safeguard
individuals, families, communities and
populations when their health is endangered by
a co-worker, any other person, policy, practice or
misuse of technology. 11. Nurses are active
participants in the promotion of patient safety.
They promote ethical conduct when errors or
near misses occur, speak up when patient safety
is threatened, advocate for transparency, and
work with others to reduce the potential of
errors. 12. Nurses are accountable for data
integrity to support and facilitate ethical
standards of care. Nurses and Profession 1.
Nurses assume the major leadership role in
determining and implementing
evidenceinformed, acceptable standards of
clinical nursing practice, management, research
and education. 2. Nurses and nursing scholars
are active in expanding research-based, current
professional knowledge that supports evidence-
informed practice. 3. Nurses are active in
developing and sustaining a core of professional
values 4. Nurses, through their professional
organisations, participate in creating a positive
and constructive practice environment where
practice encompasses clinical care, education,
research, management and leadership. This
includes environments which facilitate a nurse’s
ability to practice to their optimal scope of
practice and to deliver safe, effective and timely
health care, in working conditions which are safe
as well as socially and economically equitable for
nurses. 5. Nurses contribute to positive and
ethical organisational environments and
challenge unethical practices and settings.
Nurses collaborate with nursing colleagues,
other (health) disciplines and relevant
communities to engage in the ethical creation,
conduct and dissemination of peer reviewed and
ethically responsible research and practice
development as they relate to patient care,
nursing and health. 6. Nurses engage in the
creation, dissemination and application of
research that improves outcomes for individuals,
families and communities. 7. Nurses prepare for
and respond to emergencies, disasters, conflicts,
epidemics, pandemics, social crises and
conditions of scarce resources. The safety of
those who receive care and services is a
responsibility shared by individual nurses and
the leaders of health systems and organisations.
This involves assessing risks and developing,
implementing and resourcing plans to mitigate
these Nurses and Global Health 1. Nurses value
health care as a human right, affirming the right
to universal access to health care for all. 2.
Nurses uphold the dignity, freedom and worth of
all human beings and oppose all forms of
exploitation, such as human trafficking and child
labour. 3. Nurses lead or contribute to sound
health policy development. 4. Nurses contribute
to population health and work towards the
achievement of the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). (UN n.d.) 5. Nurses
recognise the significance of the social
determinants of health. They contribute to, and
advocate for, policies and programmes that
address them. 6. Nurses collaborate and practise
to preserve, sustain and protect the natural
environment and are aware of the health
consequences of environmental degradation,
e.g. climate change. They advocate for initiatives
that reduce environmentally harmful practices to
promote health and well-being. 7. Nurses
collaborate with other health and social care
professions and the public to uphold principles of
justice by promoting responsibility in human
rights, equity and fairness and by promoting the
public good and a healthy planet. 8. Nurses
collaborate across countries to develop and
maintain global health and to ensure policies and
principles for this