The nature of the nursing profession makes social connections practically unavoidable. These social connections also make moral and ethical choices which may affect other people inevitable (Butts and Rich, 2005). The various meaning describes to ethics provided the impetus for the different professions to document and enforce the acceptable norms of practice in their respective spheres. Diversity and geography eventually further necessitated different countries or states to delimit the standard professional practice in more vivid detail. Additionally, the scope of professional practice, like in nursing, is delineated into a legal scope of practice and a scope based on education, training in experience (Small, 2009). In the United States, for example, as cited in Small (2009), the scope of nursing practice may differ from one state to another. This paper will compare nursing ethics as practiced in the states of Florida and California.
Nursing Practice in Florida and California and the Nursing Code of Ethics
The practice of nursing in the US is defined under the Model Nursing Practice Act of 2004:
“Practice as a registered nurse means the full scope of nursing with or without compensation or personal profit, that incorporates caring for all clients in all settings; is guided by the scope of practice … through nursing standards established or recognized by the board” (as cited in Small 2009, p 21). ...Show more