According to the Gallup Organization, “In 2014, Americans say nurses have the highest honesty and ethical standards. Members of Congress and car salespeople were given the worst ratings among the 11 professions included in this year’s poll. Eighty percent of Americans say nurses have “very high” or “high” standards of honesty and ethics, compared with a 7% rating for members of Congress and 8% for car salespeople.”
“Americans have been asked to rate the honesty and ethics of various professions annually since 1990 and periodically since 1976. Nurses have topped the list each year since they were first included in 1999, with the exception of 2001 when firefighters were included in response to their work during and after the 9/11 attacks. Since 2005, at least 80% of Americans have said nurses have high ethics and honesty. Two other medical professions — medical doctors and pharmacists — tie this year for second place at 65%, with police officers and clergy approaching 50%”
Nurses serve on the front lines of healthcare. Their departments are often understaffed requiring them to be on their feet more than ten hours a day. They routinely deal with blood and bodily fluids. They sometimes suffer verbal abuse and in some cases physical abuse from patients and families. Under difficult working conditions, we rely on them always to deliver medication precisely and on time. Despite these working conditions, they remain steadfastly focused on the needs of their patients and Americans continue to give them the highest honesty and ethical ranking of all professions.
I wonder how many of us would be willing to work under conditions similar to nurses. Would we be able to consistently remain dedicated and continue to do our best work if we were on our feet ten hours a day? Would we be able to keep our concentration if we had to work while being interrupted every five minutes to respond to nurse call bells and device alarms? Would we stay focused and continue to do our best work despite occasional verbal and physical abuse? I hear many people complain about being stuck in the basement next to the morgue. Although that may not be the most desirable location, in many ways, working conditions there are far better than the conditions experienced by nurses.
Regardless of working conditions, I like to think that members of our profession are dedicated professionals with the highest standards of ethics and honesty. Despite constant administrative pressure to reduce costs, I trust that no one cuts corners when making repairs or buys replacement parts based solely on price and not on quality. Despite having to spend a large percent of our time performing boring routine testing and maintenance to satisfy regulatory and accreditation organizations, I trust that no one falsifies their paperwork just to meet standards. Although the demands on our profession are vastly different from those of nurses, we still owe it to ourselves and to our profession to function to the highest standards of ethics and honesty and although our profession is too small to be a part of the Gallup organization’s poll, it is worth asking the question; where would we rank if the Gallup organization asked doctors, nurses and other hospital employees to rate us?