Gallup Names Nursing as Most Honest and Ethical Profession
Posted by Shanna S. RN, BSN on December 18, 2013
For over a decade now, nurses have come out as the most trusted professionals in the nation. Since 1990, Gallup has conducted an annual poll, asking Americans to rank the ethical standards and honesty of different professions from ‘very low’ to ‘very high’. Nurses have been rated as the most ethical and honest every year since 1999, except one, consistently demonstrating that they have a solid hold on the trust of the American people.
What is it about us that makes us so well trusted? It may have something to do with basic fact that we are in a healing profession, traditionally aimed at doing good for others. It may also be that nurses often care for people when they are extremely vulnerable, weak and exposed (literally!). We connect with others when they are in a situation of dependency, and then help them to become healthy and well again, returning them to their independence when we can.
It’s no wonder people trust us!
As the largest group of frontline healthcare providers in the nation, we nurses have a huge helping of responsibility and accountability on our plates. Our hands are the ones that touch and save lives. Our voices reach uncountable ears; our kindness touches multiple souls each day. And for this, we are rewarded with trust.
Our responsibility is to uphold that trust.
We are entrusted daily to care for our patients, to the full extent of our scope of practice. I believe we also have a responsibility to act as stewards for, not just our patients, but for our profession as well. I can think of no better way to do that than by educating ourselves and our communities about the role nurses really play in healthcare.
We are healers. We are advocates. We are professionals.
We are care givers. We are policy makers. We are educators. We are researchers.
We are primary care providers. We bring life into the world and we escort our patients through the end of life with compassion. We sustain the forces of life- the breath, the blood, the sweat and the tears. We’ve seen it, cleaned it, wiped it, bandaged it, documented it, and discharged it. We’ve held your hand- through pain and loss, through fear and struggle, through joy and relief.
We do it because you put your trust in us.
