Codes of Ethics

Codes of ethics 1
CODES OF ETHICS
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Codes of ethics 2
Medical ethics refers to a set of morals and ways of conduct that govern the medical
profession. It entails a set of rules and regulations that govern how medical practitioners should
behave and perform duties in their work so as to provide a patient friendly environment.
According to Kaptein (2017), all nurses in the world have a code of conduct that they should
keenly follow in their care giving practice. As stated in the Hippocratic Oath, all medical
practitioners should provide the utmost respect to their patients. They should work towards the
preservation of human dignity and ensuring that the health and care of the patient comes first.
Nurses care practice should always be patient centered in order to achieve satisfactory as well as
the best care outcome possible. Nurses should always observe ethics in their day to day roles in
providing care to their patients so as to ensure satisfactory outcomes in the care giving process.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) has laid out a number of codes of ethics that all
nurses must observe within the country in their practice. A breach in any of these codes attracts
penalties as their conduct is governed by laws that must be followed carefully (Harriss et al,
2017). There are therefore legal issues that revolve around the nursing profession. The aim of
this discussion is to elaborate on the importance of codes of ethics within the nursing profession
and focus on the ANA code of provision 7 so as to understand all that pertains it.
The meaning of ANA code provision 7 is that nurses should in all roles and setting
advance the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standard
development and the generation of both nursing and health policy. This provision can only
be justified by the fact that for the profession to advance and achieve better outcomes, there is
need for incorporation of research as it assists nurses gather more information concerning the
field. This justification can also be echoed by the fact that research and scholarly inquiry
helps nurses identify strengths in the field and maximize on them while on the other hand

Codes of ethics 3
eradicate errors. Professional standard development enables nurses to abide to the laws and
regulations of the land (Lewis, 2018). It incorporates the traits and values of a good nurse and
therefore promotes health seeking behavior. The generation of a nursing and health policy can be
justified by the fact that it leads to improved health outcomes. There are various applications of
this provision. As stated by Kaplan et al. (2017), nurses should acquire more information
regarding their practice in order to achieve better health care provision. This can only be done by
conducting thorough research in the field and furthering education. For example, nurses that
have sought higher education such as masters and PhD in the nursing field tend to have a
widened scope of knowledge as compared to those that only have the bachelor’s degree.
Seeking knowledge by furthering education helps in specialization in a particular field.
The human body is complex and to understand it better and achieve better treatment of patients,
there is need of specialization in particular field. This helps achieve better care delivery as only
those who have specialized in the particular field in question will be able to attend the case. For
example nursing of gastroentology related case of a patient will require the nursing care of a
nurse whose specialty is in that field. They are at a better position to offer care as they have a
better understanding of cases revolving around the digestive system. Good research in a
particular medical field helps achieve a better understanding and knowledge of that field (Epstein
& Turner, 2015). It also helps in division of labor among nurses within the medical institution.
This is because the nurses will have specialty in care provision of a particular case which they
will be assigned to unlike when they haven’t specialized.
Scholarly inquiry is an important aspect of the code of ethics. It entails seeking more
knowledge in approved medical books as well as from those who have gained enough knowledge
in the field. It helps achieve better care outcomes as knowledge is power and therefore those that