Nursing Values and Responsibility Statements - Health and Well-being
Nurses value health promotion and well-being and assisting persons to achieve their
optimum level of health in situations of normal health, illness, injury, disability or at the
end of life.
1. Nurses must provide care directed first and foremost toward the health and well-being
of the person, family or community in their care.
2. Nurses must recognize that health is more than the absence of disease or infirmity and
must work in partnership with people to achieve their goals of maximum health and
well-being.
3. Nurses should provide care addressing the well-being of the person in the context of
that person’s relationships with their family and community.
4. Nurses must foster comfort and well-being when persons are terminally ill and dying
to alleviate suffering and support a dignified and peaceful death.
5. Nurses should provide the best care that circumstances permit even when the need
arises in an emergency outside an employment situation.
6. Nurses should respect and value the knowledge, skills and perspectives of the persons
in their care and must recognize, value and respect these while planning for and
implementing care.
7. In providing care, nurses should also respect and value the knowledge and
perspectives of other health providers. They should actively collaborate and where
possible seek appropriate consultations and referrals to other health team members in
order to maximum health benefits to people.
8. Nurses should recognize the need to address organizational, social, economic and
political factors influencing health. They should participate with their colleagues,
professional associations, colleges and other groups to present nursing views in ways
that are consistent with their professional role, responsibilities and capabilities and
which are in the interests of the public.
9. Nurses should recognize the need for a full continuum of accessible health services,
including health promotion and disease prevention initiatives, as well as diagnostic,
restorative, rehabilitative and palliative care services.
10. Nurses should seek ways to improve access to health care that enhances, not replaces,
care by utilizing new research based technologies, such as telehealth (e.g., telephone
assessment and support).
11. Nurses should continue to contribute to and support procedurally and ethically
rigorous research and other activities that foster the ongoing development of nursing
knowledge.
12. Nurses who conduct or assist in the conduct of research must observe the nursing
profession’s guidelines, as well as other guidelines, for ethical research.6
optimum level of health in situations of normal health, illness, injury, disability or at the
end of life.
1. Nurses must provide care directed first and foremost toward the health and well-being
of the person, family or community in their care.
2. Nurses must recognize that health is more than the absence of disease or infirmity and
must work in partnership with people to achieve their goals of maximum health and
well-being.
3. Nurses should provide care addressing the well-being of the person in the context of
that person’s relationships with their family and community.
4. Nurses must foster comfort and well-being when persons are terminally ill and dying
to alleviate suffering and support a dignified and peaceful death.
5. Nurses should provide the best care that circumstances permit even when the need
arises in an emergency outside an employment situation.
6. Nurses should respect and value the knowledge, skills and perspectives of the persons
in their care and must recognize, value and respect these while planning for and
implementing care.
7. In providing care, nurses should also respect and value the knowledge and
perspectives of other health providers. They should actively collaborate and where
possible seek appropriate consultations and referrals to other health team members in
order to maximum health benefits to people.
8. Nurses should recognize the need to address organizational, social, economic and
political factors influencing health. They should participate with their colleagues,
professional associations, colleges and other groups to present nursing views in ways
that are consistent with their professional role, responsibilities and capabilities and
which are in the interests of the public.
9. Nurses should recognize the need for a full continuum of accessible health services,
including health promotion and disease prevention initiatives, as well as diagnostic,
restorative, rehabilitative and palliative care services.
10. Nurses should seek ways to improve access to health care that enhances, not replaces,
care by utilizing new research based technologies, such as telehealth (e.g., telephone
assessment and support).
11. Nurses should continue to contribute to and support procedurally and ethically
rigorous research and other activities that foster the ongoing development of nursing
knowledge.
12. Nurses who conduct or assist in the conduct of research must observe the nursing
profession’s guidelines, as well as other guidelines, for ethical research.6
