[Professional ethics, an essential element of nursing practice].

The context of contemporary practice exposes nurses to a wide variety of ethical dilemmas. In 1978, nurses were granted autonomy within the scope of their therapeutic role but there was also a need for the profession to embark on a new stage by introducing a code of ethics. It was not until 2016 that the first code of ethics for nurses was published in France, 63 years after the publication of a code by the International Council of Nurses.