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The Value of Nurses’ Codes: European nurses’ views

Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK, taddw{at}cf.ac.uk

Angela Clarke

Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK

Llynos Lloyd

Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK

Helena Leino-Kilpi

University of Turku, Finland

Camilla Strandell

University of Turku, Finland

Chryssoula Lemonidou

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Konstantinos Petsios

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Roberta Sala

Fondazione Centro San Raffaele del Monte Tabor, Milan, Italy

Gaia Barazzetti

Fondazione Centro San Raffaele del Monte Tabor, Milan, Italy

Stefania Radaelli

Fondazione Centro San Raffaele del Monte Tabor, Milan, Italy

Zbigniew Zalewski

Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland

Anna Bialecka

Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland

Arie van der Arend

University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

Regien Heymans

University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

Nurses are responsible for the well-being and quality of life of many people, and therefore must meet high standards of technical and ethical competence. The most common form of ethical guidance is a code of ethics/professional practice; however, little research on how codes are viewed or used in practice has been undertaken. This study, carried out in six European countries, explored nurses’ opinions of the content and function of codes and their use in nursing practice. A total of 49 focus groups involving 311 nurses were held. Purposive sampling ensured a mix of participants from a range of specialisms. Qualitative analysis enabled emerging themes to be identified on both national and comparative bases. Most participants had a poor understanding of their codes. They were unfamiliar with the content and believed they have little practical value because of extensive barriers to their effective use. In many countries nursing codes appear to be ‘paper tigers’ with little or no impact; changes are needed in the way they are developed and written, introduced in nurse education, and reinforced/implemented in clinical practice.

Key Words: European codes of ethics • nurses’ codes of ethics • qualitative research

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