Historical roots and future perspectives related to nursing ethics.

This article traces the evolution of the development and the refinement of the professional code from concerns about the ethical conduct of nurses to its present state as a professional code for all nurses. The importance and the relationship of the Ethics Committee of the American Nurses' Association (ANA) to the development of the code and other ANA programs and structural units is also presented. The recognized need for a code of ethics to establish nursing as a profession has been present throughout the evolution of the professional nursing organization. A distinction between ethical conduct of nurses and a code of ethics for professional nurses has been made by nursing leaders. The code has been refined to reflect nursing's changing relationship to society and the societal concerns of the times.