The first code of professional ethics must: (1) be a code of ethics; (2) apply to members of a profession; (3) apply to all members of that profession; and (4) apply only to members of that profession. The value of these criteria depends on how we define "code", "ethics", and "profession", terms the literature on professions has defined in many ways. This paper applies one set of definitions of...

The Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia was first developed in 1993 under the auspices of the Australian Nursing Council Inc. , Royal College of Nursing, Australia and the Australian Nursing Federation. In 2000 these peak organisations agreed to undertake a joint project to review the Code of Ethics. It is recognised that the Code of Ethics could not have been realised without the participat...