The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a professional body that represents professionals such as nurses and caregivers involved in the public health sector. It has a Code of Ethics adopted in 1950 that guides the actions and conduct of its members as they go about their daily professional activities and duties. It regulates the professional practice of nurses involved in public health. The Code has certain important guidelines that are aimed at ensuring that all professionals adhere to the ethical and moral standards set or specified therein. The value of the ANA ethics code lies in the fact that it guides registered professional nurses and enables them to not only act ethically but also professionally manage some of the ethical problems that confront them in their everyday practice (Epstein & Turner 4)
Moreover, under Provision 9 of the Code of Ethics, there are certain professional values that members of the ANA are under a duty to uphold at all times as they make contact with the society. This provision also has a set of standards for nursing practice, educational requirements for nursing practice and certification of nurses. The code makes nurses aware of the fact that they have a responsibility to the public and hence requires them to hold values that reflect the nobility of public health profession.
Additionally, the most important guideline ion the code that seeks to ensure strict adherence to its contents is the one under Provision 3 of the Code that prefers action on questionable or inappropriate nursing practice. Hence, the code seeks to punish illegal, unethical and impaired nursing or medical practice by members of the public health care profession in the US. According to Thomas, Sage and Guillory at the crux of public health ethics is the exercise of power of ensuring the well-being of the society and also prevention of possible abuse of such through unprofessional abuse (2). It is in this sense, they argue, that ethical codes of conduct become indispensable and useful for professionals.
Works Cited
American Nurses Association. Code of Ethics for Nurses with interpretative statements. Web. 16 March. 2016. < www.nursingworld.org/codeofethics >
Epstein, Beth and Martha Turner. "The nursing code of ethics: Its value , its history." The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 20.2 (2015): 1-20. 16 March 2016. <http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-20-2015/No2-May-2015/The-Nursing-Code-of-Ethics-Its-Value-Its-History.html>.
Thomas, James, Michael Sage and V James Guillory. "A code of ethics for public health." American Journal of Public Health 92.7 (2002): 1-19. Web. 16 March 2016. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447186/>.
