An ethical responsibility for nurses

Recently, I had the opportunity to tour Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty with my family. Inspired by the stories of those who came to the United States looking for a new life, I also was reminded of my grandfather’s experience as he returned to the United States via New York Harbor after his service in World War II. He said the Statue of Liberty was “the best sight he had ever seen.”

Although this wasn’t my first visit to Ellis Island, being there at this particular time in history proved quite meaningful. These landmarks represent our country’s unique history with citizenship, an idea foundational to our society. Accordingly, as members of the country’s most trusted profession, nurses must exercise and promote the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship to ensure a healthy society.

Many nurses choose their profession because they want to help others. Over time, they see that they can offer that help in numerous ways—at the bedside, as a nurse leader, as an educator, or as a member of a community board. But nursing’s responsibility to society goes deeper than the skills and tasks we carry out every day. We advocate for our patients in the clinical setting, and we’ve been called to extend that advocacy to influence health policy.

Although we’ve had success leading hospitals and healthcare organizations, nurses have found it difficult to establish a presence in the political system. Several factors may contribute to this issue, but Gentry and colleagues found that lack of civic knowledge plays a role in lower levels of political astuteness, which may then impact civic engagement. Adler and Goggin defined civic engagement as participation in a community to improve conditions or to help shape the future of the community.

Studies by Gentry and colleagues and Ludwick and colleagues found that nurses don’t demonstrate high levels of civic knowledge, political astuteness, or even the basic civic responsibility of voting. However, Provision 9.2 of the American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics for Nurses states, “Individual civic engagement and nursing’s civic professionalism embody nursing’s covenant and affirm the mutual expectations and responsibilities between nursing and society.” This statement emphasizes the expectation of nurses as leaders in the community. The provision goes on to implore nursing education programs to “provide sustained opportunities for the development of skills that facilitate civic engagement and foster societal flourishing.” As nursing programs around the country enhance their curricula to provide competency-based education, the integration of these concepts will prove crucial to preparing future nurses.

Consider these three steps you can take to increase your own civic knowledge and engagement:

• Register to vote and understand the issues you’re voting for. Exercising this basic duty and privilege is key to citizen engagement.
• Review government functions at all levels. It’s hard to navigate and impact a system you’re not familiar with.
• Know who represents you at the local, state, and federal levels—and know their policy stances. It’s important to know which policymakers are likely to support nursing issues and which aren’t.

You also can fulfill your societal obligation by taking an active role in your professional organizations, advocating for health issues in your local community, or running for office yourself. The public entrusts nurses to care for individuals and communities in need. Civic engagement is essential to fulfilling this promise.

Hollie Gentry is an assistant professor at the Rutgers University School of Nursing in Newark, New Jersey, and an advanced practice nurse at the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center HIV Clinic in Newark.

References

American Nurses Association. Code of Ethics for Nurses. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association; 2025. codeofethics.ana.org/home

Adler RP, Goggin J. What do we mean by “civic engagement”? J Transformative Educ. 2005;3(3):236-53. doi:10.1177/1541344605276792

Gentry H, Patton RM, Lindell D, Ludwick R. Civic knowledge and self-reported political astuteness of academic nurse educators in the united states. J Prof Nurs. 2024;54:85-91. doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2024.06.001

Ludwick RE, Zalon ML, Patton RM, Baughman KR. Analysis of Ohio nurses’ voting behaviors 2020–2023. Policy Polit Nurs Pract. 2025;26(2):89-96. doi:10.1177/15271544241298259