Poll: Nursing tops job rankings for honesty, ethics

A new Gallup poll finds that nursing remains the highest-ranked profession when it comes to perceived honesty and ethics.

That's not a huge surprise, given that nurses have been at the top of the list for nearly all of the last 16 years (firefighters received the top spot shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks).

A whopping 85 percent of respondents said they believe nurses meet "very high" or "high" standards of ethics and honesty, according to Gallup. That ties the professions record high point for this poll. Only 1 percent answered "very low" or "low" to that question.

Doctors ranked No. 3 at 67 percent very high or high ratings, just behind pharmacists (68 percent).

The American Nurses Association released a statement on the poll, arguing that nurses should have more of a say in health care organizations, including holding positions in top leadership.

“It’s essential that we leverage this trust to lead and implement change in the health care system,” said Pamela F. Cipriano, association president. “Hospitals, health care systems and other organizations are lacking an important perspective and can’t make fully competent decisions if they don’t have registered nurses at the board table or in the C-Suite."

(Note: Two of 10 of Lee Memorial Health System's elected board members are registered nurses. Four of 19 members of the organization's senior leadership council have nursing backgrounds as well.)

In 2015, the Nurses Association launched its "Year of Ethics" initiative to highlight professional standards. It's planned "Culture of Safety" campaign for 2016 will highlight how those standards can better improve patient safety.

Other "very high/high" ethics and honesty rankings from Gallup: Policing (56 percent); clergy (45 percent); journalists (27 percent); lawyers (21 percent); real estate agents (20 percent); and members of Congress (8 percent).

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