When we enter a room for the first time – whether it is the hospital, clinic, or the patient’s own home – we have an opportunity to connect with a patient in a critical way. In those first moments, we can utilize an ethic of care and intentionality to build trust. That encounter not only impacts the relationship, but it also extends out into the world, and we become known as a profession of those who are worthy of trust.

The National Nursing Ethics Conference this year will focus on the critical importance of trust. Clarity will come through an exploration of the history and meaning of nursing ethics as an entity unto itself, the concepts of why the integrity of nurses’ matter, and how preventive ethics can move us from the struggle of moral distress into moral strength and imagination that supports our vital ethical commitments. A panel introduction of this year’s revised American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics for Nurses will bring to light how our fundamental obligations and values can provide a structure which reinforces ethical agency within our profession, as well as our standing within our institutions. In this way, we remain close to our calling, bringing forth our expertise in addressing health and wellbeing in our patients, families, and communities by inspiring milieus for healing.