The speech of Mr. Professor Doctor Khaled Abdel Ghaffar , Minister of Health and Population:

My daughters and sons, members of the Egyptian nursing and midwifery council, I present this speech to you in appreciation of the effort you make to improve the nursing profession. The two professions, nursing and midwifery, are based on scientific and ethical principles, as well as professional responsibilities and duties that include ethical, behavioral, and professional obligations. These two professions have their own specific codes of conduct that govern and regulate their practice. Every nurse and midwife should understand, be aware of, and appreciate the rules and principles of ethics and behavior as soon as they join these venerable professions. They should train themselves to practice and respect these principles in both their private and public lives. The ethics of nursing and midwifery acknowledge human rights regardless of race, color, creed, or gender. The profession's ethics recommend ensuring justice and equality in access to safe healthcare without discrimination by caring for the patient, their family, and their community, including the environment around them, through education and health guidance to improve the health of the Egyptian citizen.

May God bless and support you as pillars and support for our beloved Egypt.

The words of Dr. Kauther Mahmoud Mahmoud, the General Secretary of Nursing: "Nations are nothing but their ethics. Once their ethics lost, nations are lost too!

To my colleagues and fellow members of the Nursing Association, I present to you the Code of Ethics for the two professions, nursing and midwifery, in Egypt. I have confidence that we will spare no effort to achieve all the values and goals set forth in the code, as we aspire to develop the Egyptian healthcare system through a commitment to humanitarian, ethical, scientific, and practical aspects.
The Egyptian Code of Ethics for nursing and midwifery is an agreement and consensus among all nursing and healthcare leaders in Egypt to commit to it and raise awareness, as it provides evidence-based care and high-quality efficiency and quality to achieve the satisfaction of healthcare providers and recipients, as well as all members of society.

May God make you an asset to Egypt and grant you success for what He loves and is pleased with.

Profession Oath

I swear by Almighty God to be sincere in my work, to fear God in my profession, to respect its laws and systems, and to carry out my duties with utmost efficiency and sincerity. I pledge to base my performance on knowledge derived from nursing sciences and to exert my utmost efforts to care for all those entrusted to my care, preserving their dignity, guarding their secrets, defending their rights, and protecting them from harm. I shall not fear to speak the truth and shall bear no blame for doing so. I will provide a safe environment for the patient, family, and community. I will continue to develop myself, honor those who teach me, respect and collaborate with my colleagues in the profession with honesty and integrity.

God is my witness to what I say

Vision :- To elevate the ethics, manners, behavioral performance, and overall appearance of nursing and midwifery professions.

Mission :-
To promote professional responsibility and accountability, and to commit to the ethics and manners of nursing and midwifery professions.

General goal :-
To establish a general framework for professional ethics, manners, professional practices, social values, responsibilities, accountability, rights, and duties that define and direct the ethics of practicing nursing and midwifery professions in the various roles that members of the professions play within the healthcare team.
 

• Definition of Ethics
• Definition of Profession
• Definition of Ethics of Nursing and Midwifery
• Definition of Accountability and Responsibility
• Principles, Values, and Ethics of Nursing and Midwifery Profession
• Principles and Values of Scientific Research
• Foundations and Laws of Nursing and Midwifery Profession
• Making Ethical Decisions to Solve Ethical Problems

Definitions:

• Definition of Ethics in Nursing and Midwifery: It refers to positive practices, beliefs, and standards for the individual, family, community, and service recipient according to clear and safe regulations.
• Definition of Professionalism: It is the practice of work according to clear and agreed-upon rules and regulations, in accordance with the regulations and laws governing the profession.
• Definition of Ethics in Nursing and Midwifery: They are positive ethical rules for the behavior and performance of members of the nursing and midwifery professions to carry out their tasks that arise from the culture of the profession's tasks, protect the rights of workers and service recipients (patients or healthy individuals), do not conflict with prevailing societal values, principles, beliefs, and customs, and determine the professional relationship between members of the nursing and midwifery professions with members of the healthcare team according to the regulations and laws governing the profession.
• Sincerity and Positivity: The commitment to doing what is good and useful with a conscience.
• Respect: The commitment to honoring and distinguishing each person and promoting a safe work environment of inclusivity, courtesy, trust, and open communication.
• Non-harm: The commitment to refrain from harm and damage to both service providers, service recipients, and the entire community.
• Justice and Fairness: Equality in providing nursing and midwifery care according to the condition of the service recipient regardless of gender, age, beliefs, and color.
  Integrity: the establishment of transparency and the absence of contradictions, doing the right thing, and avoiding suspicion in light of regulations and laws.
  Defense: protecting the rights of service providers and recipients from individuals, confidentiality, and society in accordance with the regulations and laws governing the profession.
  Care: providing nursing and midwifery services to service recipients according to their needs and the policy of the healthcare institution.
  Independence: respecting service providers and recipients and enabling them to participate in healthcare methods provided. Honesty: committing to telling the truth and avoiding lying and deceiving others.
  Accountability: questioning the actions taken within the framework of the work carried out by members of the nursing and midwifery profession.
  Accounting: it follows accountability and means holding members of the nursing and midwifery professions accountable for how they practiced and performed their role requirements and taking a stance on their professional ethics and responsibilities as stipulated by regulations and laws (following a policy of reward and punishment).

Principles and values of the ethics of nursing and midwifery professions

Values arise from religion, culture, personal qualities, and professional values in the sciences of the profession.
Some of the most important values in nursing and midwifery professions are:

• To respect the needs, values, and culture of the service recipient and members of my nursing and midwifery profession.
• To accept the service recipient's rights to choose what relates to receiving care without conflicting with their health and treatment plan.
• To promote and bear responsibility for providing excellent care to all members of society.
• To maintain the confidentiality of any information obtained within the framework of the profession and use it only when necessary to participate in information sharing to provide legal or medical treatment and ensure the safety of the individual, ensuring the patient's protection.
• To ensure the safety of the service recipient and provide them with safe care.
• To assume and guarantee the responsibility and accountability related to their roles.
• To work towards providing an ethical, social, economic, and psychological environment that helps improve the health of the service recipient.

Ethics of Scientific Research

The application of ethical principles and fundamentals in scientific research work is as follows:

1. Respect for individuals, where the right to determine one's destiny and the independent choice of service recipients in participation should be respected. This principle leads to the respect and protection of vulnerable individuals, including children and individuals with disabilities.
2. Beneficence, where the commitment to ensuring the positive welfare and working for the benefit of individuals and maximizing achievable benefits is observed.
3. Non-maleficence, where the commitment to not causing harm to providers and recipients of the service participating in scientific research is observed.
4. Protection of data confidentiality by maintaining the confidentiality of data given by study subjects. Data that leads to identifying study participants should be deleted.
5. The researcher's commitment to providing complete information about the nature of the research, its purpose, desired benefits, and potential risks.
6. Obtaining written consent from research participants and having study subjects or their representatives sign the consent form.
7. The right of study participants to withdraw completely without any harm.
8. The researcher's commitment to ensuring the safety of study participants and securing their well-being, safety, and privacy at all stages of the research.
9. Ensuring that research participants have the right to access their personal data upon request.
10. Providing free treatment to study participants for any injuries or complications related to the research.
11. Ensuring that the research hypothesis and outputs do not conflict with ethical frameworks and principles of protecting humans and society.

The laws and principles of nursing and midwifery professions

The following laws and principles are applied during practicing nursing and midwifery professions:

• The laws of the Ministry of Health and Population, the Ministry of Higher Education, and the Egyptian Nursing Syndicate.
• The laws of the Egyptian Supreme Health Council.
• The ethics of scientific research and clinical trials.
• The laws of the National Council for Women.
• Human rights strategy.
• Principles of safe healthcare.
• Principles of criminalizing violence, bullying, and harmful practices against women such as female genital mutilation and early marriage.

The Principles of Decision-Making in Resolving Ethical Problems

The following principles and rules are applied during the practice of nursing and midwifery professions and they include:

1. Forming a specialized committee to study problems and make disciplinary decisions if there is no specialized committee in the healthcare facility.
2. Evaluating the situation and studying it by collecting sufficient information about the problem from all ethical, scientific, practical, social, and other dimensions.
3. Studying each case in the light of its data and identifying the ethical violations that led to the occurrence of the ethical problem.
4. Developing a plan, goals, and procedures to reach a solution to the problem.
5. Implementing problem-solving procedures.
6. Evaluating the actions taken and how the goals were achieved to solve the problem.
7. Not making decisions individually and relying on the opinion of the specialized committee in the healthcare facility.
8. Documenting the problem and the decision that was reached to solve the problem.

Nursing Union Responsibilities:

• Developing work legislations and general standards for practicing the professions of nursing and midwifery that support ethical values and behaviors, ensuring their activation and commitment to provide a safe working environment for nursing and midwifery professionals.
• Protecting the rights of nursing and midwifery professionals in healthcare institutions.
• Monitoring and evaluating the performance of nursing and midwifery practitioners and defending their profession.
• Updating the codes of ethics for nursing and midwifery professions, publishing and supporting the commitment of nursing and midwifery professionals to them.
• Forming union committees to study nursing and midwifery problems and hold nursing and midwifery professionals accountable.
• Guiding nursing and midwifery professionals in all issues related to their profession.
• Ensuring compliance with the conditions of practicing nursing and midwifery professions through the following certificates:
  1. Obtaining a certified certificate from a recognized body indicating the study and practice of nursing and midwifery, and criminalizing any violation of that.
  2. Obtaining a license to practice nursing and midwifery professions.
  3. Commitment to apply the mandatory laws related to practicing nursing and midwifery professions.
  4. Commitment to the job description while practicing nursing and midwifery professions.

  Health Sector responsibilities

  (Ministry of Health and Population - University Hospitals and other entities)

  Responsibilities of nursing and midwifery professionals towards their professions:

  Responsibilities of members of the nursing and midwifery professions towards their professions:

  Responsibilities of members of the nursing and midwifery professions towards their colleagues at work:

  Responsibilities of members of the nursing and midwifery professions towards the institution they work for:

  Responsibilities of Nursing and Midwifery Professionals Towards the Community:

  Nurses and Midwives:

  Rights of Service Recipients and their Families:

  Nursing and midwifery professionals' rights:

  • • Establishing systems and foundations for the rights of service recipients, informing them about their rights, and preserving them to maintain their lives and respect their bodies and members in all nursing and midwifery practices, taking into account privacy in case of transportation or death.
    • Establishing systems and foundations to ensure the safe provision of nursing and midwifery care in a scientific manner, while respecting human rights, values, and beliefs of service recipients.
    • Establishing foundations to ensure the periodic and fair performance evaluation of nursing and midwifery professionals according to their professional duties and in accordance with the laws governing work.
    • Providing sufficient numbers of qualified nursing and midwifery professionals commensurate with the workload and according to the reference ratios in healthcare institutions.
    • Encouraging a culture of reporting medical and nursing errors and accountability.
    • Not obligating nursing and midwifery professionals to perform non-nursing tasks.
    • Enhancing the role of nursing and midwifery professionals in care and management.
    • Restricting the practice of nursing and midwifery to scientifically qualified individuals.
    • Providing financial and moral incentives to nursing and midwifery professionals, defending and protecting them, and preserving their rights.
    • Supporting and providing opportunities for nursing and midwifery professionals for development, training, and continuous education.
    • Raising awareness among nursing and midwifery professionals about their functional rights and duties and the technical and administrative policies of the institution.
    • Providing preventive, therapeutic, rehabilitative, and psychological healthcare for nursing and midwifery professionals to ensure their health and safety.
      Determining the number of working hours for members of the nursing and midwifery professions according to the established standards of labor law.
    • Enhancing and encouraging the role of members of the nursing and midwifery professions in comprehensive care and promoting teamwork with other members of the health team.
    • Communicating with the union and relevant authorities to report on incidents related to malpractice by members of the nursing and midwifery professions.
    • Providing a safe work environment, necessary devices, equipment, and supplies to efficiently and effectively deliver nursing and midwifery care of high quality.
      Responsibilities of the educational sector
    • Including topics related to the ethics of the nursing and midwifery professions in the nursing and midwifery education curriculum.
    • Raising awareness among nursing students of the role of the union, the conditions for practicing the profession, and the laws and regulations related to it.
    • Raising awareness among nursing students about the importance of adhering to professional ethics and principles when practicing the profession.
    • Defining and training nursing and midwifery students on making safe professional decisions when facing ethical issues related to practicing the professions.
    • Conducting, documenting, publishing, and applying the results of research aimed at developing the nursing and midwifery professions.
    • Respect the rights of service recipients, including their right to life and dignity.
    • Comply with the legislation related to the nursing and midwifery professions and the administrative systems of the institution.
    • Act with compassion, wisdom, and accuracy towards the service recipients and their families.
    • Maintain the confidentiality and privacy of all information related to the service recipients.
    • Provide nursing and midwifery care to service recipients regardless of age, gender, race, religion, or color.
    • Provide nursing and midwifery healthcare in a safe professional framework for individuals, families, and the community, with effective coordination and communication with the healthcare team members.
    • Adhere to professional ethics wherever the location and nature of work, with a professional appearance.
    • Document and transfer information to healthcare team members with complete confidentiality.
    • Immediately report any professional errors to the institution's management.
    • Respecting the rights of service recipients and their right to life and dignity.
    • Complying with the legislation related to the professions and their practice, as well as the administrative systems in the institution.
    • Dealing with service recipients and their families with compassion, wisdom, and accuracy.
    • Maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of all information related to service recipients.
    • Providing nursing and midwifery care to service recipients regardless of age, gender, race, religion, and color.
    • Providing healthcare in a professional and safe environment for individuals, families, and the community, with effective coordination and communication with healthcare team members.
    • Demonstrating professional ethics wherever the work is located and appearing in a professional manner.
    • Credibly documenting information and transferring it to relevant healthcare team members in complete confidentiality.
    • Immediately notifying the institution's management of any professional errors.
    • Effectively collaborating with healthcare team members and employees and maintaining good relationships between them.
    • Providing complete and accurate reports on the status of service recipients to healthcare team members involved in providing the service.
    • Avoiding speaking badly about colleagues and avoiding any comments or remarks that would undermine the skill or opinion of any other colleague at work.
    • Not withholding information and expertise from newly graduated members of the nursing and midwifery professions.
    • Preserving the property and secrets of the institution they work for.
    • Respecting the laws, regulations, and work systems in the institution.
    • Complying with work schedules and taking care to adhere to them.
    • Complying with the official uniform of the institution during work.
    • Properly using the equipment, devices, and facilities of the institution and preserving them from any damage, and taking necessary measures towards their maintenance.
    • Being a good citizen who respects the traditions and customs of society.
    • Being knowledgeable about and respectful of the state's healthcare systems.
    • Having sufficient knowledge of the laws and legislation of the state.
    • Collaborating with those interested in the profession to improve the health status of individuals, families, and the community, and to meet the healthcare needs of the community.
    • Not engaging in any act that compromises the dignity and honor of citizens or jeopardizes their safety.
    • Nurses and midwives have a personal responsibility to practice nursing and midwifery and maintain competence through continuous education and training.
    • Nurses and midwives maintain their own health and do not expose themselves to risks or take any prohibited medications, and do not self-treat or treat others with medications or treatments.
    • Nurses and midwives maintain personal performance standards that positively reflect on the profession and earn the community's trust.
    • Ensuring the use of advanced scientific technologies and methods in providing nursing care that ensures the safety and rights of service recipients.
    • The right to obtain information about the health status and treatment of the service recipient in order to participate in making decisions about their treatment plan.
    • The right to access services and receive them without any delay.
    • The right to receive care without discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, nationality, age, payment method for treatment costs, or their physical, mental, or health status.
    • The right to privacy and to preserve the confidentiality of their health and other information, and to keep the information in special files that only the relevant healthcare team members can access.
    • The right of the service recipient to receive care from qualified and specialized practitioners.
    • The right to know their rights and responsibilities according to approved standards.
    • The right to be familiar with the general regulations and instructions in the healthcare facility, as well as the names of the healthcare team members responsible for providing the service to them.
    • The right to refuse in writing any nursing or midwifery procedure or medication, and they should be convinced of the necessity of the treatment and the importance of the nursing and midwifery procedures.
    • The right to give or refuse written informed consent to participate in clinical research conducted on them within the healthcare facility.
    • The right to full knowledge of the reasons and objectives of their transfer from one place to another inside or outside the hospital.
    • The existence of labor laws that help nursing and midwifery professionals to know their responsibilities, duties, and professional rights.
    • Providing a safe working environment with available health protection measures.
    • The clarity of the organizational structure to show the independent administrative reference of nursing and providing performance standards (clinical work guidelines).
    • The right of nursing and midwifery professionals to receive accredited nursing education of the highest scientific quality and providing opportunities for continuous education for all levels.
    • Providing the opportunity to participate in professional unions and committing to their systems, decisions, and what they issue.
    • The right of nursing and midwifery professionals to provide good professional, social, and economic conditions that encourage work and meet their needs.
    • Respecting nursing and midwifery professionals, their beliefs, and their privacy.
    • The right of nursing and midwifery professionals to express their opinions and provide proposals to improve and develop the quality of nursing and midwifery work.
    • The commitment of nursing and midwifery professionals to take on higher administrative tasks.
    • The healthcare institution responsible for nursing and midwifery professionals must provide comprehensive healthcare for them and their families.

Principles of Ethics for Nursing and Midwifery Professions:
Respect for human rights, including the right to life, human dignity, and respectful treatment, are fundamental values in nursing and midwifery professions. Nursing and midwifery care should not be affected by considerations of race, color, age, gender, beliefs, political or social system. Therefore, the roles of nursing and midwifery professionals must be linked to compatible indicators of their tasks and responsibilities, and be linked to performance standards for outstanding nursing and midwifery care to evaluate nursing competencies.
Components of Nursing and Midwifery Ethical Practice:
•    Legislation on professional practice within the framework of relevant laws and regulations.
•    Internal work systems in the institution related to approved performance standards.
•    Effective management, guidance, and supervision, and collaboration among healthcare team members.
•    Appropriate work environment.
•    Adequate resources.
•    Inculcation of self-monitoring "conscience."
•    Nursing and midwifery professionals with professional ethical qualities and scientific and technical qualifications.
Foundations of nursing and midwifery care include:
• Commitment to practicing nursing and midwifery after obtaining a license to practice the profession.
• Adherence to the ethics and morals of the nursing and midwifery professions.
• Providing safe nursing and midwifery care based on approved performance standards that meet the health, psychological, and moral needs of the service recipient and their families while preserving their dignity and allowing them to make decisions.
• Identifying the priorities and needs of the service recipient, mapping nursing and midwifery care, and integrating with members of the healthcare team.
• Documenting nursing and midwifery care on paper and electronically in accordance with approved performance standards.
• Providing sufficient explanation of nursing, midwifery, and health procedures before their implementation.
• Managing time in delivering nursing and midwifery care.
• Applying modern and digital technology with specific controls according to approved standards.
• Health education for service recipients to comply with health and preventive measures.
• Periodic measurement of service recipient satisfaction with nursing and midwifery care provided in accordance with approved standards.
• Providing sufficient explanation of nursing, midwifery, and health procedures before their implementation to service recipients.

The qualities that members of the nursing and midwifery profession should possess to practice their professions:

The table below illustrates the specifications and ethical values according to the International Council of Nursing (ICN)

• Definition of an error.
• Definition of negligence.
• Types of errors.
• Examples of nursing and midwifery errors.
• Factors that lead to errors.
• Manifestations of negligence in nursing and midwifery work.
• Criminal liability.
• Types of harm.

Definitions:
Error: It is a behavior that results from lack of knowledge of tasks or negligence during the provision of nursing and midwifery care, and some errors can reach the level of harming the service recipient, causing him permanent disability or even loss of life.
Negligence: Failure to comply with the rules, regulations, and provisions of the profession, with lack of interest and care for matters and failure to interact appropriately with the situation at hand and taking matters lightly.
Types of nursing and midwifery errors:
• Error and negligence in nursing and midwifery care.
• Practicing nursing and midwifery work without a license.
• Refusal of nursing and midwifery professionals to provide nursing and midwifery care.
• Disclosure of patient's confidentiality.
Examples of nursing and midwifery errors that have occurred:
All nursing and midwifery procedures that are performed incorrectly include:
• Giving the service recipient the wrong medication due to failure to verify the five medication rights (right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, and right time).
• Failure or neglect to monitor the service recipient.
• Performing nursing/midwifery procedures incorrectly.
Factors that lead to errors are:
• Hasty judgment.
• Lack of knowledge and proper nursing and midwifery practices.
• Failure to conduct proper evaluation.
• Laziness, forgetfulness, and loss of ability to focus and exert effort.
• Weak follow-up and observation.
• Delaying work until the last minute.
• Taking things lightly and relying on others.
• Losing seriousness in judging surrounding matters.
• Resorting to lying to avoid difficult situations.
Manifestations of neglect in nursing and midwifery work include:
• Neglecting to report any incident that requires notification.
• Neglecting to provide appropriate nursing and midwifery care.
• Neglecting to write reports and relying solely on oral reports.
• Neglecting to deal with service recipients and responsible colleagues.
For Criminal Responsibility:
• Practicing the profession without a license.
• Working outside the official system.
• Providing false information.
• Impersonating the titles of healthcare professionals.
• Participating in any unauthorized health procedure.
• Participating in violence of any kind, including female genital mutilation

Definitions:

To avoid the consequences of mistakes, members of the nursing and midwifery professions must do the following:
• Take appropriate and prompt corrective action in case of an error.
• Report the type of error immediately upon its occurrence.
• Record the error, its type, and the time of occurrence in the service recipient's notes.
• Monitor the service recipient's condition intensively and continuously until the danger period has passed.
• Increase specialized training programs and continuing education for members of the nursing and midwifery professions.
• Adhere to the job description for various members of the nursing and midwifery professions.
• Accurately document in a timely manner and use modern documentation methods.
• Embed the meaning of "self-monitoring" in nursing and midwifery curricula and practices.
• Hold training courses for members of the nursing and midwifery professions and educate them on their rights and duties, with a focus on professional ethics and practices.

Sources and References:
• Arab Nursing and Midwifery Code of Ethics
• Nursing and Midwifery Etiquette and Ethics in Saudi Arabia
• The Guide to the Code of Ethics, Faculty of Nursing, Zagazig University
• Nursing and Midwifery Principles and Ethics in Iraq
• Nursing and Midwifery Ethics - The Electronic Portal of Fikr Training Institution