We have reviewed Provisions 1 through 5 of the new 2025 ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses. Today, we turn to Provision 6, which emphasizes the nurse’s role, individually and collectively, in creating, maintaining, and improving the ethical environment of the workplace. This provision highlights that a supportive moral climate is not optional; it is essential for safe, ethical, and effective nursing care.

6.1 The Environment and Virtue

Nurses develop virtues such as compassion, integrity, respect, humility, and moral courage through education, practice, and lived experience. These character traits enable us to meet our moral obligations and uphold nursing’s core values. But for virtues to flourish, nurses need to work in a moral environment that supports them. A workplace marked by honesty, kindness, transparency, and mutual respect helps nurses sustain these virtues and provide ethical care. Nurses both benefit from and contribute to this moral environment.

6.2 The Environment and Ethical Obligation

A healthy ethical environment doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentional effort and shared responsibility. Barriers such as incivility, bullying, racism, discrimination, or lack of organizational support must be recognized and addressed. Nurses are called to be moral agents who work to transform harmful cultures into ones where fairness, inclusivity, and dignity are the norm. This may mean self-reflecting on our own biases, pursuing training in ethics and inclusivity, and advocating for structures that protect ethical practice, such as grievance systems and shared governance. In correctional settings where stress, hierarchy, and conflicting missions can foster hostility, our obligation to foster civility and inclusiveness is particularly critical.

6.3 Responsibility for the Healthcare Environment

Every nurse has a responsibility to build and sustain an ethical workplace. This includes supporting peers, encouraging open discussion of difficult ethical issues, and advocating for ethics education. Nurse leaders, in particular, must ensure just treatment, fair policies, and responsiveness to staff concerns. When unsafe or unethical practices persist despite efforts at change, nurses may face the difficult decision to escalate concerns to external bodies or even to resign. While such steps are never easy, they reflect the profession’s commitment to integrity and patient safety. Collective action, including union efforts or strikes, may sometimes be necessary to secure ethical environments for both staff and patients. Ultimately, an ethical workplace minimizes moral distress and fosters a culture of civility, dignity, and respect, which benefits nurses, patients, and communities alike.

Provision 6 reminds us that creating an ethical workplace is not only the responsibility of leadership but of every nurse, at every level, working together. In our next ethics post, we will review Provision 7, which addresses the nurse’s role in advancing the profession through research, scholarly inquiry, professional standards, and policy development.

Please share your reflections on Provision 6 in the comments. What ethical challenges have you seen in your workplace, and how have you worked with colleagues to create a healthier moral environment?