Still Most Trusted

That’s fully 19 percentage points higher than engineers (who were second, with a 66 percent rating), 20 percentage points higher than medical doctors (who ranked third overall, with a 65 percent rating) and 21 points higher than pharmacists (who ranked fourth, with a 64 percent rating).

Keeping the Faith

There’s nothing ambivalent about the poll results. Thirty-one percent of respondents rated nurses’ ethical standards as “very high,” the poll’s best possible ranking. By comparison, only 20 percent of respondents rated physicians’ honesty and ethics “very high,” the poll’s second-best figure. Almost no respondents — a mere 1.4 percent — rated nurses’ honesty as lower than average.

“I am extremely proud that nurses everywhere have been bestowed this wonderful accolade by the people whose lives they touch every day,” says ANA President Ernest Grant, RN, Ph.D., FAAN. “The fact that nurses have been consistently voted the most honest and ethical professionals is a testament to the public’s trust. We’ll work hard to keep their good faith throughout 2020 and beyond. I couldn’t think of a better way to enter into the ‘Year of the Nurse.’”

In this Article: Nursing Workforce