Pharmacy has continued its run as one of the most ethical and honest professions in the eyes of consumers, coming equal second with doctors behind nurses.
The Roy Morgan Image of Professions Survey 2015 asked almost 600 Australians to rate 30 professions for their ethics and honesty.
Nurses topped the rankings, with 92 per cent of respondents rating the ethics and honesty of the profession as "Very high" or "High".
Pharmacists scored a rating of 84 per cent, along with doctors, ahead of school teachers, engineers and dentists.
The rating of pharmacists is down slightly on last year (86 per cent). The profession has scored a rating of 80 per cent or above every year since 1996.
According to Gary Morgan, “Roy Morgan’s annual Image of Professions survey for 2015 shows a majority of professions (17) recorded falls in their ratings for ‘ethics and honesty’ over the past year although Nurses 92% (up 1% from 2014) increased and are at their highest rating for over a decade since 2003 and still clearly leading the way as Australia’s most respected profession for very high or high ‘ethics and honesty’.
"The biggest losers this year were Bank Managers 34% (down 9%), Accountants 45% (down 7%) – their lowest rating for over a decade since 2002 and Lawyers 31% (down 7%). Another big loser was Financial Planners 24% (down 4%) – now at their lowest ever rating for very high or high ‘ethics and honesty’ following a series of scandals in the industry," he said.
