Nurses Top Gallup's Honesty And Ethics Poll Again

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 26 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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CNA/NNOC calls poll latest charge to continue push to advocate for patients, guaranteed healthcare

For the seventh straight year, nurses are the winner in the Gallup Poll's annual "honesty and professional ethics" survey. A stunning 84 percent of Americans rated nurses honesty and ethics standards as either "high" or "very high," easily topping the survey.

Leaders of the nation's largest organization of registered nurses, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, today said the survey findings are a reminder of nurses' bond with the public, and a responsibility to continue to advocate on behalf of the public interest.

"We view our relationship with patients and communities as a sacred trust, and an obligation to advocate relentlessly for patient safety and public health at the bedside, and in the public arena," said CNA/NNOC co-president Geri Jenkins, RN.

Nurses have ranked first in the Gallup poll every year since 1999 when they were added to the survey, with the sole exception of 2001 when firefighters had the top rating in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Gallup's findings are not an aberration. A California Field poll last April accorded CNA and nurses the highest rating among all groups involved in public policy discussions on healthcare reform in California.

"Nurses everyday have to stand up to make sure our patients get the care they need, in the face of an often uncaring medical system where profits and revenues too often interfere with care delivery," said Jenkins.

CNA/NNOC has taken that patient advocacy stance from the hospitals and clinics into the legislative and public arena, from protesting insurance companies that deny care recommended by a patient's doctor to rallying for genuine healthcare reform that benefits patients and families, not the pocketbook of insurance companies, Jenkins noted.

Currently, CNA/NNOC is working with doctors and community activists on behalf of reform that would improve Medicare and expand it to cover all Americans. A Medicare for all, single payer bill, HR 676, which has more House cosponsors than any other reform bill, is expected to be re-introduced early next year.

View the poll

California Nurses Association

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