The American Nurses' Association's Code for Nurses: purposes, content, and enforceability

Using Levy's criteria of appraisal for a code of professional ethics, this article assesses the 1976 American Nurses' Association's Code for Nurses with Interpretive Statements in terms of purposes, specificity, inclusiveness, and enforceability. The assessment shows that the Code for Nurses meets generally accepted purposes for a code, contains enough specificity and inclusiveness to serve as a useful guide to professional conduct, and describes initial and follow-up action nurses can take when they witness questionable or inappropriate conduct that may adversely affect the patients' health care or safety. However, limited data are available regarding how the professional body has applied sanctions for violations of the Code. Further study on this matter is indicated and, fortunately, is forthcoming by ANA in an ongoing, planned survey.