xii • Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements, 2nd Ed. • Preface
who we as professional nurses are at our very core. This Guide reflects upon
the fundamental values and ideals of nurses as individuals and as members of
a profession as found in the current Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements
(the Code).
When the ANA House of Delegates first unanimously accepted the Code
for Professional Nurses in 1950, years of consideration had been given to the
development of this code, consideration that continues to this day. The ANA
modified the Code in 1956, 1960, 1968, 1976, 1985, 2001, and again in
2015 so that it could continue to guide nurses in increasingly more complex
roles, functions, and settings. The Guide explains how these revisions reflect not only the changing roles and functions of nurses and their relationships with colleagues, but also, and more importantly, the commitment of professional nursing across the decades to maintaining one of its most important and vital documents that continues to inform nurses, other health professionals, and the general public of nursing’s central values.
This edition of the Guide includes explanations of a variety of ethical
methods such as principles, ethics of care, virtue ethics. It gives historical and contextual development of each provision and provides extensive citations including links to key national and international documents. Additionally, this edition has developed foundational concepts such as human dignity, compassion, social justice, care, and human rights. Included also is an extensive discussion of social ethics, social justice, and nursing. This demonstrates the reciprocating interrelationships among nursing, ethics, and social forces. And finally, the Guide addresses the 2015 Code’s expanded focus on global nursing that has become more necessary in our interconnected world.
We in the nursing profession can be proud of our values and this Code that
reflects them. These values underpin the new revision of the Code of Ethics for
Nurses with Interpretive Statements. This Guide will assist you to interpret and use that Code wisely.
And finally, join me in thanking the latest ANA task force for its excellent
work in revising our Code.
Anne J. Davis, PhD, DS, MS, RN, FAAN
American Academy of Nursing Living Legend, 2012
Professor Emerita, University of California, San Francisco
Professor Emerita, Nagano College of Nursing, Japan
Former Chair, ANA Ethics Committee