New Gallup Poll Names Nursing 'Most Ethical' Profession

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A new poll released today by the polling organization Gallup has named nurses as the most "ethical" profession, according to a recent survey of 1,002 American adults.  Eighty-two percent of respondents categorized nurses as having very high or high ethics. Nurses have been ranked the most ethical profession six of the last seven years, passed only in 2001 by firefighters in the wake of the terror attacks.

"We regard the trust of the public as an honor and a sacred trust," said Deborah Burger, RN, president of the 65,000-member California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. "We know that patients and their families regard us as the last line of defense when they are at their most ill and vulnerable, and see nurses battling with hospitals, insurance companies, and doctors to make sure our patients get the care they need and deserve."

CNA, said Burger, "is also fundamentally committed to extending that patient advocacy to the public arena" and sponsored successful legislation to improve care conditions, including California's landmark law requiring minimum safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios, and a crackdown on HMO abuses limiting care. "Now it is our pledge to the public to step up the campaign for fundamental healthcare reform to end the national disgrace of the 46 million uninsured and establish a universal healthcare system based on a single standard of quality care for all," Burger added.

Source: California Nurses Association