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Public Rates Nursing as Most Honest and Ethical Profession

Nurses top Gallup's annual survey on the honesty and ethics of various professions, followed by other medical professionals like doctors, veterinarians, pharmacists, and dentists. Americans, in the Nov. 14-16 CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll, were asked to rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in 23 different professions as very high, high, average, low or very low. In addition to the core professions Gallup tests each year, this year's list focused on medical professions. (Last year's focus was on business, and next year's will be on government.)

As has been the case in four out of the five times they have been included in the poll, nurses rank higher than any other profession, with 83 percent of respondents saying the honesty and ethical standards of nurses are "very high" or "high." The exception came in 2001, when firefighters (in their lone appearance on the honesty and ethics list) outscored nurses in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. This year, medical doctors (with 68 percent of Americans saying they have "very high" or "high" honesty and ethical standards), veterinarians (68 percent) and pharmacists (67 percent) are the next-highest rated professions after nurses. The 68 percent rating for medical doctors is the highest Gallup has ever measured for that profession.

Professional Honesty and Ethics

Nurses: 83
Medical doctors: 68
Veterinarians: 68
Pharmacists: 67
Dentists: 61
College teachers: 59
Engineers: 59
Policemen: 59
Clergy: 56
Psychiatrists: 38
Bankers: 35
Chiropractors: 31
State governors: 26
Journalists: 25
Senators: 20
Business executives: 18
Congressmen: 17
Lawyers: 16
Stockbrokers: 15
Advertising practitioners: 12
Insurance salesmen: 12
HMO managers: 11
Car salesmen: 7

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