For the 21st year in a row, Australians surveyed rated nurses as the most ethical and honest workers in the Roy Morgan Image of Professions survey.

Other professions that rated highly in the annual survey included doctors, pharmacists, school teachers, engineers and dentists.

Car salesmen again ended up at the bottom of the heap - a position they have held for 30 years - with real estate agents and advertising executives hot on their heels.

Pollster Gary Morgan said of the 30 professions surveyed, many recorded ratings slumps from 2014 with bank managers, accountants, lawyers and university lecturers the big losers.

Ninety-two per cent of those who took part in the telephone poll, conducted on April 8 to 10 this year, rated nurses highly for ethics and honesty - their highest rating for over a decade.

NSW Nurses and Midwives Association general secretary Brett Holmes welcomed the acknowledgement on behalf of the many thousands of nurses working in hospitals and other health settings across the country.

"Nurses and midwives are often intertwined into some of the most intimate moments in a patient's life and as a result take their ethical and professional responsibilities very seriously," Mr Holmes said.

The results come just ahead of the International Day of the Midwife on Tuesday and International Nurses Day on May 12.

Mr Graham, a nurse unit manager in the hospital's aged care ward, said it was good to get some recognition.

"It's great to see that nurses are held in high esteem within the community," he said.

"We're here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we see patients often at some of the worst of times.

"Nurses are dedicated, they have a lot of empathy and understanding and are excellent problem solvers - and that's reflected by these results."