RESUMO
Formulating codes of ethics for nurses are not only the need of establishing nurses’ professional image and dignity, but also the demand of nursing discipline development. By combing the relevant documents of codes of ethics for nurses at home and abroad, this paper summarized the main contents and application of codes of ethics for nurses, found that codes of ethics for nurses were based on the basic principle of "patient-oriented", discussing the relationship between nurses and patients, collaborators, environment, society, specialty and personal development, and forming the constraint standard for nurses’ behavior in combination with the expectation of local cultural values for nursing industry. The codes of ethics for nurses in China need to further clarify the scope of nursing, formulate behavioral norms in various specialties, and through clinical evaluation, education, management and other aspects to promote its popularization and implementation.