Does the Bill of Rights offer nurses any protections at work?
The Bill of Rights is a statement of professional rights, not a legal document. It can help guide development of organizational policy or focus discussions between nurses and employers regarding employment contracts and work agreements. The Bill of Rights supplements other tools such as the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (2001), Nursing’s Social Policy Statement, (2003) and Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (2004) – all available from the American Nurses Association (See Below and right). All of these documents have been developed by expert nurses and approved by a representative national body of practicing nurses.
