Codes of Ethics for Nurses & Midwives

The international codes below have been adopted by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board.

• The ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses : revised in 2012 and adopted by the Nursing and Midwifery Board in March 2018.
• International Code of Ethics for Midwives : reviewed in 2014 and adopted by the Nursing and Midwifery Board in March 2018.
• Nursing and Midwifery Board - Professional Standards : these Standards include codes of conduct and ethics.

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

• Clinical Ethics : a policy page from the NHMRC that highlights the importance of ethics in the delivery of quality health care.
• Clinical Ethics Capacity Building Resource Manual : a publication by the Australian Health Ethics Committee (AHEC) to support the development of ethical patient care. Download the free PDF version.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) works with National Boards for each health profession to publish codes of conduct. Below are link to allied health codes of conduct.

Shared Code of Conduct

The Shared Code of Conduct applies to the following health practitioners:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners
• chiropractors
• dental practitioners
• medical radiation practitioners
• occupational therapists
• optometrists
• osteopaths
• paramedics
• pharmacists
• physiotherapists
• podiatrists and podiatric surgeons

Occupational Therapy: Occupational Therapy Board - Code of conduct

Pharmacy: Pharmacy Board - Code of conduct

Psychology: Australian Psychological Society - Code of Ethics (2007) - Note that the Psychology Board of Australia is developing a code of conduct for psychologists.

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

• Clinical Ethics : a policy page from the NHMRC that highlights the importance of ethics in the delivery of quality health care.
• Clinical Ethics Capacity Building Resource Manual : a publication by the Australian Health Ethics Committee (AHEC) to support the development of ethical patient care. Download the free PDF version.

BMJ Learning courses are designed to help you learn at every stage of your career. It is free for Monash Health employees and includes hundreds of interactive, peer-reviewed learning modules, written by experts from BMJ. BMJ Learning is accredited by the Australian College of Nursing and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Earn CME credit for completing courses. 

Click here for instructions on how to register for an account.

Recommended modules:

• Understanding consent - 1 hour
• Confidentiality and disclosure: your guide to handling patient information - 30 mins

You can track new articles on clinical ethics by downloading the Read mobile app. To download the app, click the logo below:

Also see our video instructions on how to set up Read by QxMD. Further guidance on keeping up to date and tracking new research is available in our keeping up to date guide.

Essential Ethics

World-recognised ethicists from the Children’s Bioethics Centre at The Royal Children’s Hospital take on the hardest cases. Hosted by Professor John Massie, a clinician and bioethicist at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.

Ethics Talk

This podcast from the AMA Journal of Ethics features interviews with experts and leaders on a wide range of topics in health care ethics. They sort through interesting, important, and difficult questions, talk about how to weigh competing values, and offer strategies for navigating real world cases.

Pomegranate Health

Produced by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Pomegranate Health podcast has featured several episodes on ethical topics -- a selection of these can be found below.