American Nursing Association: Respecting Human Dignity

The code of ethics of the American Nursing Association is a complete list of the expected ethics code that all nurses that belong to the association must follow. It is not an option, it is the right thing to do. The ethics cover how patients should be treated, passing judgement based on ethnicity and more. Provision 1 of the ethics code covers just a few ways that nurses should practice including respect, relationships, the nature of a patient's health problem, and self-determination.

The American Nursing Association believes in total respect for all patients and their human dignity. Every person and individual has worth, dignity, and human rights that should be respected treating everyone the same.

In committing to holding responsible relationships includes with the patients and the staff. The relationship with the patient should be to take care of their needs and values and deliver nothing but the best for the patient. The patient might make a decision that the nurse disagrees with or doesn't religiously believe in, but patients have the right to make their own choices and any choices should not be judged or cause a nurse to change the way they take care of the patient. The respect and relationship for the patient should be the same for all patients. The relationships with the coworkers must be the same. Coworkers have a life outside of work that they live and it is no ones business to judge them. Respect all coworkers the same and decisions that they make as long as they are for the benefit of the patients.

The respect to dignity and the patient, according to the American Nursing Association, should not be judged based on the extent of a disease. A nurse has no right to judge the disabled, suffering, or the proximity of death. Just because a patient is in a coma doesn't mean that they are not priority. They will be treated the same as a person that is awake and alert.

The American Nursing Association takes pride in the types of members they have with them. They will not tolerate patients or coworkers being treated badly or indifferently and all nurses must commit to respecting the relationships they have.