A code of professional conduct is a collection of norms appropriate for the nursing profession and should be the point of reference for all decisions made during the care process. Codes of ethics for nurses are formulated by members of national nurses' organizations. These codes can be considered to specify general norms that function in the relevant society, adjusting them to the character of the profession and enriching them with rules signifying the essence of nursing professionalism. The aim of this article is to present a comparative analysis of codes of ethics for nurses: the ICN's Code of ethics for nurses, the U.K.'s Code of professional conduct, the Irish Code of professional conduct for each nurse and midwife, and the Polish Code of professional ethics for nurses and midwives. This analysis allows the identification of common elements in the professional ethics of nurses in these countries.

The majority of older persons demonstrated an 'excellent' or 'very good' lifestyle with healthy habits. The adoption of healthy lifestyle patterns, in particular a regular balanced diet and proper physical activity, can help prevent functional limitations among the elderly in rural areas.

Nurses should work with maltreated children on an individualized basis, combined with interdisciplinary cooperation with specialists from related disciplines concerned with the issue. There appears to be a need for specialized training for nurses to increase their competence in working with maltreated children and their families.

This authors of this column explore the use of nursing theory in Poland. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study was conducted to explore what, if any nursing theories were used by nurses in Poland, and if an education program on nursing theory increased the use of nursing theory. The study found that while there were discrepancies between the nurses' theoretical knowledge base and their use of these theories in practice, there is evidence of the use of the ideas and theory of Nightingale, Orem, and Henderson in nursing practice in Poland.

From the increasing number of women who recovered from breast cancer arises more academic interest in their subjective opinions about the quality of their life (QL), particularly the physical, psychological, and social aspects of it. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the QL of Polish women after mastectomy. The research was performed on 480 randomly chosen patients who had been subjected to surgical treatment. The functional assessment of cancer therapy (FACT) scale version 4 and hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) were used during the research procedure. The lowest results within the global opinion of QL were obtained within the emotional sphere. The most frequent mental states experienced by the examined patients were worry, sadness, nervousness, fear, and depression.

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Introduction: People’s self-esteem and public perception of senior citizens both play important roles in perceiving old age. The public perception manifests itself in adopting specific attitudes toward the elderly. Aim of the work: The work aimed at attempting to specify how adults and the elderly perceive old age. Material and method: The diagnostic poll method was employed as the main research tool, whereas the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire by Morris Rosenberg and the Kogan’s Attitudes toward Old People Scale, as well as authors’ own sociodemographic variables metrics, were used as research tools. The investigation was administered in a cohort of 206 people living in Poland. Results: The average number of points on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire by Morris Rosenberg (SES) was 29.01 (SD = 4.24). People over the age of 60 (M = 30.07 points), males (M = 32.05 points), those in a relationship (M = 30.22 points), declaring higher education (M = 30.33 points), and a good material situation (M = 30.12 points) enjoyed higher self-esteem. The average number of points on the Kogan’s Attitudes toward Old People Scale (KAOP) in the research cohort was 126.48. The assessment of the elderly was higher among those below 60 (M = 127.06), females (M = 127.29), those in a relationship (M = 129.78), those declaring higher education (M = 128.56), and those in a good material situation (M = 126.99). Conclusions: Respondents perceived old age positively, albeit at a low level. It is necessary to review activities undertaken in the sphere of social policy in Poland because activities undertaken to date are failing to improve old age perception. Actions need to be undertaken aiming at raising self-esteem level in Polish senior citizens, and available financial, social, and psychological resources from the government and community associations should all be used to this end.

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