Contesting Professional Nursing Values

Abstract

A code of ethics, as proof of nursing professionalism, is used to promote nursing's core values. In the United States, the American Nurses Association's (ANA) Code of Ethics is accepted as the primary source for professional nursing values. Particular processes are used within nursing to embed professional values into nursing discourse. A historical review of the ANA Code of Ethics, a review of published articles about professional nursing values, and an examination of the development and globalization of the Nurses Professional Values Scale informed our examination of nursing's efforts to delineate, instill, and measure professional nursing values. The analysis was informed theoretically by Bourdieu and his concept of "playing the game." Constructing and reinforcing professional nursing values reveals difficulties about what constitutes core nursing values and what they mean, particularly with respect to values that comprise the good nurse; the inability to measure and evaluate said values; and the colonization of Western values globally. The inordinate amount of time and energy spent on nursing values surfaced the vexing nature of such efforts. The concept of profession and its accompanying values must be regarded with suspicion.

Keywords: Bourdieu; Code of Ethics; Nurses Professional Values Scale; ethics; nursing values; profession.