A Nurse’s Pledge for the TwentyFirst Century

In fellowship with the Nurses here joined, with respect and gratitude for those who have served before me, and in faith with those who will follow, I make these promises:

I commit to Nursing as a healing profession. I will use the Science and Art of Nursing to improve functioning, alleviate suffering, and promote wholeness and integrity of being, whether cure is anticipated or not.

I will honor the NursePatient relationship as the locus for healing, and enter into it unreservedly while maintaining boundaries that respect privacy and foster trust. I will maintain the ethical principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity and veracity, guarding the patient’s right to autonomy and seeking justice for all in my care. I claim the same duties and rights for myself as a condition of our common humanity.

I will collaborate with all team members to deliver the highest quality care possible, assuming and delegating tasks responsibly, observing, assessing, and evaluating the patient’s response in order to guide and revise the plan of care.

I will use technology mindfully, never forgetting that I am the primary and ultimate vehicle for assuring the patient’s safety.

I will protect Planet Earth as our home, knowing that fresh air, clean water, sunlight, nutritious food and companionship are the birthright of all and essential to the maintenance of our collective and individual health.

I will work for social justice and equity, opposing systems that support disparities and structural inequalities, and seeking to identify and eliminate my own implicit biases.

I will endeavor to mentor even as I continue to learn, to grow, and to share in the advancement of the profession I love.

And I will hold hope for the future. Above all I will heed the admonition of our Sister, Florence Nightingale, “Live life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift – there is nothing small about it.”