Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Show respect
The American Nurses Association (ANA) says that nurses should “respect the inherent dignity,
worth, unique attributes, and human rights of all individuals.” Furthermore, nurses must
“establish relationships of trust and provide nursing services according to need, setting aside any
bias or prejudice,” according to the ANA.
Patients should feel that they themselves and their point of view are respected at all times by
nursing staff. This pertains to elements of race, gender identity, LGBTQ+ populations, religious
beliefs, and socioeconomic status.
3. Show empathy
Beyond being knowledgeable and confident, nurses should bring a spirit of empathy to
everything that they do. Above all else, patients deserve kindness.
“We know that patients need certain things to feel good about their healthcare experience,” said
Anne Dabrow Woods, DNP, RN, CRNP, ANP-BC, AGACNP-BC, FAAN, Chief Nurse, Wolters
Kluwer Health, Learning Research & Practice. “Patients want empathy; they want kindness
because they are afraid. Everything that’s happening to them is new, and they want to feel that
they are being really cared for by people who actually care about how they’re experiencing
things within healthcare.”
With the constant stress faced by medical staff, empathy can decrease over time. This is
unfortunate because empathy is associated with improved patient outcomes, greater patient
safety and fewer malpractice claims. Therefore, it’s important for nurses to occasionally ground
themselves and remember why it is they got into nursing in the first place—to care for others.