Professional Nurse Role

“ The term professional nurse, as used in this document, refers to that individual prepared with a minimum of a baccalaureate in nursing but is also inclusive of one who enters professional practice with a master’s degree in nursing or a nursing doctorate.” (2008, p. 2) The three main roles of the professional nurse talked about in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing are being a provider of direct and indirect care to individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations. Secondly, they are designers, managers, and coordinators of care and lastly they are members of a profession.

The nine provisions of the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for nurses are as followed:

1. The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the
The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care.
5. The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety, preserve wholeness of character and integrity, maintain competence, and to continue personal and professional growth.
6. The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains, and improves the ethical environment of the work setting and conditions of employment that are conducive to safe, quality health care.
7. The nurse, in all roles and settings, advances the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy.
8. The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities.
9. The profession of nursing, collectively through its professional organizations, must articulate nursing values, maintain the integrity of the profession, and integrate principles of social justice into nursing and health