Code of Ethics for Nursing Students
Nursing students are responsible for learning the tenets and skills required of nursing care, according to the National Student Nurses Association’s Code of Academic and Clinical Conduct, which aims to lay the student’s ethical and clinical foundation.
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The Code
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The code for nursing students calls on them to team up with faculty to promote top quality care; avoid practicing skills for which they lack training; abstain from mind-altering substances that impair judgment within an academic or clinical setting; support access to student drug- and alcohol-abuse rehabilitation programs; and uphold school policies that promote academic and clinical excellence.
Learning Focus
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Nursing students must constantly strive to increase their skills, according to the NSNA, which says that “a nursing student’s commitment to evidence-based practice and to the health, well-being and safety of clients” is crucial because “the client willingly gives the nursing student their trust in her/his ability to provide nursing care in accordance with their clinical education objectives.”
Because health care is always evolving, nurses must “continue to educate themselves formally and informally throughout their careers to remain clinically competent to meet the health care needs of increasingly diverse client population across an ever-changing health care environment,” the organization states in its interpretative statements about the code.
Professional development--through lifelong learning and joining professional organizations for specialty nursing--is key to good nursing, according to the interpretive statements.
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Similarities to Professional Code
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The NSNA--a 50,000-member nonprofit for students in associate, baccalaureate, diploma and generic graduate nursing programs--established the code to prepare student nurses for their careers, according to its website.
The code, like similar canons at nursing colleges, takes some of its material from the American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics, which stresses respect for the patients through deference to their autonomy and respect for confidentiality.
Campus Advocate
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Nurses must educate the community about public health concerns and threats to personal safety; they should also support initiatives that oppose homelessness, violence and other social ills, according to the professional code.
Though relevant to nursing students who want to advocate for such causes within their larger community off campus, this guideline particularly requires nursing students to challenge college policies and environments that threaten health care. Nursing students should defer to the school's grievance policy to properly address the situation, the NSNA states.
Significance
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Nursing students are expected to follow the professional nurses' code, in addition to their own, because upholding these standards ensures “accountability and optimal care for their patients,” says the University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Nursing Code of Ethics. Such behavior enables nursing students to maintain the public’s trust and respect, according to the university.
Further, acting ethically prevents "demoralization of the spirit of learning among students and faculty," UTA's code states.
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