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Survey says: Nursing is the most ethical profession

Nurse Leader Weekly, March 11, 2005

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Americans identified nursing in an annual Gallup poll as the most honest and ethical profession for the third year in a row.

The professional honesty and ethical standards survey, which was first distributed in 1976, added nursing to the list of 21 professions in 1999. The only year nursing didn't receive top ranking was 2001 because firefighters clinched the spotlight.

More than 1,000 adults ages 18 and older rated the honesty and ethical standards of various professions, and 79% of respondents assigned nurses a "high" or "very high" rating. Grade school teachers (73%), pharmacists (72%), and military officers (72%) received the next highest rankings, suggesting a general trend of trust in public service professions.  

Building trust
Nursing's close, intimate relationships with patients and families make it a trusted profession, says Katherine Riley, BSN, RN, director, integrated clinical services and Magnet coordinator at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, VT. "Nurses are such strong patient advocates that it does only seem natural that we are viewed as a profession that is honest and ethical," says Riley.

In the public eye
The nursing profession's high ranking often results from respondents' personal experiences with their own care or that of family members. Direct contact with nurses affects the public's perception of the profession and combats the prevailing negative portrayal of nursing in the media as a "stereotypical sexy woman who is a male doctor's handmaiden," according to Anne Jadwin, RN, MSN, AOCN, CNA, director of nursing at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

Despite the positive survey results, a review of current literature shows that the public does not fully understand the nursing profession, says Laura Caramanica, RN, PhD, vice president for nursing at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT. Her current study of the image of nursing provides suggestions for practice changes to help the public comprehend the role of nursing in the healthcare spectrum.

As the public's perception of nursing continues to evolve, patient care provided in various settings helps people grasp the many duties a nurse performs and the empathy and patience required. 

"Our profession keeps the patient's needs in the forefront and at times, in front of [nurses'] own needs, health, and well-being," says Caramanica. "We always have and we always will."
     
Source: Adapted from Strategies for Nurse Managers (March 2005), published by HCPro, Inc.

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