It Was the Best of Times … It Was the Worst of Times: The Importance of Being Bold in Embracing Nursing’s Values and Ethical Responsibilities

I recently had the privilege of meeting colleagues from the NLN and Walden University College of Nursing Institute for Social Determinants of Health and Social Change Leadership Academy. This academy aims to equip nurse educators and interprofessional colleagues to prepare future care providers with knowledge, skills, tools, and evidence-based resources to promote social change and advance health equity with confidence. These leaders came from across the nation, from diverse backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. Each person I met that evening was fiercely committed to addressing the social determinants of health and becoming a catalyst for social change. Their respect and commitment to one another, their determination to become agents of change, and their joy were palpable as they celebrated a shared vision and genuine appreciation for their differences. One delightful moment came as a participant sang about love — how, despite our differences, love binds us together. During our meeting that evening, I couldn’t help but reflect on the values of the NLN, how Caring, Integrity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Excellence are at the heart of what the NLN represents. Caring, integrity, and excellence demonstrate our commitment to our communities. Diversity and inclusion strengthen our communities and benefit us all. As we celebrated our uniqueness and our shared goals in our nation’s capital, the home of the NLN, new directives were being issued just miles away — directives that fostered division. Sadly, we are living in a tumultuous time where we find that church leaders are debating the value of kindness and empathy, where political leaders are offended by calls to have mercy upon our marginalized populations, and where news agencies mock the rule of order. The disassociation between what is happening around us and what is good and just has inspired me to reflect upon the foundations of our profession and the code of ethics we embrace. Recently, I examined the newly published 2025 American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretive Statements. Provisions 7 through 10 address our social responsibility to the populations we serve using the verbs ought, must, and should. “Ought” means that performing the action expressed in the verb is necessary; “must” indicates an obligation or a requirement; “should” denotes an action the speaker considers to be obligatory. When engaging students with views that contradict our professional code, we must underscore the duties of the nurse according to the ANA Code of Ethics … and the responsibility of the nurse to provide the best care possible for all patients, regardless of background, beliefs, or politics. Provision 9 states that “nurses…[must] work to enact and resource practices, policies, and legislation to promote social justice, eliminate health inequities, and facilitate human flourishing.” The subsections of Provisions 9 elucidate its intentions (italics added). Provision 9.4 asserts that “nurses ought to and must condemn all forms of oppression and demonstrate intentional efforts to reflect and act upon social justice issues that influence health outcomes and healthcare equity.” Provision 9.5 states that “nurses and nursing organizations have an obligation to speak against legislation and social policy that undermines health, equity, human flourishing, and the common good.” Provision 9.2 calls out nurse educators, specifically stating “that to fulfill nursing goals for a healthy and just society, nursing education ought to provide sustained opportunities for the development of skills that facilitate civic engagement and foster societal flourishing. Nursing curricula and formation, research and healthcare policy education, and professional development should prepare nurses to address unjust systems. The nursing profession upholds the public’s trust, in part, by its deliberate and intentional education in advocacy and allyship to create just systems.” Clearly, the code we profess to uphold requires us to speak out and challenge systems that foster inequity, diminish communities, and impede humans from thriving, regardless of background. It is argued that nurses are responsible for raising awareness of the dangers of legislation that would diminish this work (Murray et al., 2023). Nurse educators are called upon to exercise their civic and professional responsibilities to advocate for social justice and promote health equity and educational opportunities for historically excluded groups in nursing. Teaching students how to live these core values in the changing landscape may be challenging, but we must remember that we have a reciprocal covenant with society to provide care for the health and well-being of all community members. The understanding of social justice should be rooted early in nursing education. Nurse educators must focus on managing political discussions in educational settings to ensure that our students are prepared for our ethical responsibilities as a profession. Content areas that may lead to a political dialogue include health care reform, health care economics, regulatory guidelines, and access to care. However, other less apparent content areas could expose a political debate, including debate about the duty to care for marginalized populations and philosophically controversial topics. As nurse educators, we must have a working knowledge of the political challenges related to health care and model a respectful exchange of ideas when introducing highly charged topics. We must strive to influence for good and battle misinformation and disinformation. We must teach students how to critically analyze media and literature. We must promote self-awareness by reflecting on identity and how one’s identity may influence one’s interactions with patients and colleagues. We must ensure that we have nonjudgmental discussions on how personal values may affect care. Lastly when engaging students with views that contradict our professional code, we must underscore the duties of the nurse according to the ANA Code of Ethics With Interpretive Statements (ANA, 2025) and the responsibility of the nurse to provide the best care possible for all patients, regardless of background, beliefs, or politics. When engaging students with views that contradict our professional code, we must underscore the duties of the nurse according to the ANA Code of Ethics … and the responsibility of the nurse to provide the best care possible for all patients, regardless of background, beliefs, or politics.Having this perspective will help us approach the discussions we face with a health care lens rather than a personal one (Cox et al., 2023). The goal is to have students reflect on how they can be inclusive in their professional practice. When nurse educators highlight social justice, diversity, and inclusion, we help create a more compassionate, effective, and equitable health care system for all people. We must be bold about teaching inclusion by creating an environment that challenges students to critically examine their assumptions; embrace discomfort; and engage in deep, meaningful conversations. Being bold means not retracting from difficult topics and making societal issues a central part of the nursing education process. Being bold requires nurse educators to take proactive steps to ensure that diversity and inclusion are embedded in every aspect of the nursing curriculum. This involves teaching about diversity, modeling inclusive behaviors, addressing bias head-on, and advocating for change within health care systems. By being bold in this way, educators will empower future nurses to provide culturally competent, equitable care and be leaders in promoting health care. Colleagues, let us be bold in ensuring that our future nurses are prepared to lead in the best and worst of times, fearless, and committed to the legacy this profession has established for centuries. Our health depends upon it.