The CNA Code of Ethics — patient autonomy, justice, accountability
Lesson 2 of 4 in Canadian Nursing Regulatory Framework · 24 minutes
The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Code of Ethics is the foundational ethics document for Canadian nursing — and a new edition was released in 2025. It's not abstract philosophy: colleges reference it, discipline panels apply it, and provincial jurisprudence exams test it. This lesson covers what the Code is for, what changed in 2025, and how its core commitments show up in daily practice.
What you'll learn
- Explain the purpose of the CNA Code of Ethics and why the 2025 edition supersedes the 2017 edition
- Apply core ethical commitments — consent, confidentiality, dignity, justice, accountability — to clinical scenarios
- Distinguish capacity (a clinical assessment) from competence (a legal determination), and ethical from legal obligations
- Know where the Code is actually tested (provincial jurisprudence exams, not the NCLEX-RN by name) and where to read the current edition
From the lesson
The Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics is the national ethical framework for nursing in Canada. In 2025, the CNA released a new edition that supersedes the 2017 Code and applies to all regulated nursing categories — RNs, licensed and registered practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, and nurse practitioners. Provincial colleges reference it. Disciplinary panels apply it. Provincial jurisprudence exams test it. This lesson explains what the Code is for, what changed in 2025, and how its core ethical commitments — the ones that endure across editions — translate into daily decisions. One instruction matters more than any summary: read the current Code yourself on cna-aiic.ca.…