National Nurses Week facts: did you know ...?

* There are nearly 2.9 million registered nurses in the United States. And, 2.4 million of them are actively employed.

* National Nurses Week has a distinctive history.

* The American Nurses Association was founded in 1896

* Isabel Adams Hampton Robb was the first president of the American Nurses Association

* According to projections released in February 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, RNs top the list of the 10 occupations with the largest projected job growth in the years 2002-2012. Although RNs have listed among the top 10 growth occupations in the past, this is the first time in recent history that RNs have ranked first. These 10-year projections are widely used in career guidance, in planning education and training programs and in studying long-range employment trends. According to the BLS report, more than 2.9 million RNs will be employed in the year 2012, up 623,000 from the nearly 2.3 million RNs employed in 2002. However, the total job openings, which include both job growth and the net replacement of nurses, will be more than 1.1 million. This growth, coupled with current trends of nurses retiring or leaving the profession and fewer new nurses, could lead to a shortage of more than one million nurses by the end of this decade. (For details, see www.bls.gov/emp/#outlook.)

* The nation's registered nurse (RN) workforce is aging significantly and the number of full-time equivalent RNs per capita is forecast to peak around the year 2007 and decline steadily thereafter, according to Peter Buerhaus of Vanderbilt University's nursing school. Buerhaus also predicted that the number of RNs would fall 20 percent below the demand by 2010. (Journal of the American Medical Association, June 14, 2000)

* Schools of nursing were forced to reject more than 147,000 qualified applications to nursing programs at all levels in 2005--an increase of 18 percent over 2004, according to a report by the National League for Nursing (NLN). The NLN Blamed the problem in part on a continuing shortage of nursing educators. Meanwhile, nursing colleges and universities denied 32,617 qualified applicants in 2005, also resulting primarily from a shortage of nurse educators, according to survey data released by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The AACN survey also reveals that enrollment in entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs increased by 13.0 percent from 2004 to 2005. According to AACN, this is the fifth consecutive year of enrollment increases with 14.1, 16.6, 8.1 and 3.7 percent increases in 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively. Prior to the five-year upswing, baccalaureate nursing programs experienced six years of declining enrollments from 1995 through 2000.

* There are over 240,400 advanced practice nurses in the United States. Of these, approximately 144,200 are nurse practitioners, 69,000 are clinical nurse specialists, 14,600 are both nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists, 13,700 are nurse midwives, and 32,500 are nurse anesthetists.

* The Congressional Nursing Caucus--a bi-partisan initiative, co-chaired by U.S. Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH), with 56 congressional members--was formed in March 2003. The purpose of the caucus is to educate Congress on all aspects of the nursing profession and how nursing issues impact the delivery of safe, quality care. The caucus was formed after consultation between congressional leaders and ANA.

* Research indicates that advanced practice registered nurses can provide 60 to 80 percent of primary care services as well as or better than physicians and at a lesser cost.

* 49 states and the District of Columbia allow advanced practice nurses to prescribe medications.

* The January 5, 2000, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported the results of a study which revealed patients fared just as well when treated by nurse practitioners as they did when treated by physicians.

* The nation's nurses rank first for their honesty and integrity, with 82 percent of Americans rating them "high" or "very high," according to a 2005 Gallup Poll. Nurses have consistently rated first every year but one after being added to the list in 1999.

* The American Nurses Association consists of 54 state and territorial associations, whose mission is to work with ANA's Associate Organizational Members (AOMs) and Organizational Affiliates for the improvement of health standards and availability of health care services for all people, foster high standards for nursing, stimulate and promote the professional development of registered nurses, and advance their economic and general welfare.

* A study published in the January/February 2006 journal Health Affairs provides new evidence that if hospitals invest in appropriate Registered Nurse (RN) staffing, thousands of lives and millions of dollars could be saved each year. Specifically, the study shows that if hospitals increased RN staffing and hours of nursing care per patient, more than 6,700 patient deaths and four million days of care in hospitals could be avoided each year. In addition to the immense societal benefits of adequate nurse staffing, the anticipated financial benefits of savings per avoided patient death or hospitalization may also be significant. This study is important because it highlights the fact that people suffer and die when nursing care is inadequate. It is the latest study in a growing body of evidence that clearly demonstrates that nurses make the critical, cost-effective difference in providing safe, high-quality patient care.

* A study, published Sept. 23, 2003, in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and conducted by Linda Aiken of the University of Pennsylvania, determined that the educational level of RNs working in hospitals has a significant impact on whether patients survive common surgeries. The study probed the impact not only of the numbers of RNs providing bedside care, but how the educational preparation of RNs impacts patient mortality. Among the study's most significant findings: that raising the percentage of RNs with bachelor's degrees from 20 percent to 60 percent would save four lives for every 1,000 patients undergoing common surgical procedures.

* A study on the nursing shortage by Linda Aiken of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing found that an estimated 20,000 people die each year because they have checked into a hospital with overworked nurses. The study also found that Americans scheduled for routine surgeries run a 31 percent greater risk of dying if they are admitted to a hospital with a severe shortage of nurses. That's approximately one-fifth of the up to 98,000 deaths that occur each year as a result of medical errors. Nurses in the study cared for an average of four patients at a time, with the risk of death increasing by about 7 percent for each additional patient cared for over that baseline number. (Source: "Hospital Nurse Staffing and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout, and Job Dissatisfaction," study; Journal of the American Medical Association, Oct. 23-30, 2002.)

* The link between adequate and appropriate nurse staffing and positive patient outcomes has been shown in several ANA publications and studies, including ANA's Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes in Inpatient Hospital Settings. This report, published in May 2000, found that shorter lengths of stay are strongly related to higher RN staffing per acuity-adjusted day and that patient morbidity indicators for preventable conditions are inversely related to RN skill mix.

* A 2001 ANA Staffing Survey revealed that America's RNs feel that deteriorating working conditions have led to a decline in the quality of nursing care. Specifically, 75 percent of nurses surveyed felt the quality of nursing care at the facility in which they work has declined over the past two years, while 56 percent of nurses surveyed believe that the time they have available for patient care has decreased. In addition, over 40 percent said they would not feel comfortable having a family member or someone close to them be cared for in the facility in which they work, and over 54 percent would not recommend the profession to their children or their friends. These statistics reveal a disturbing trend.

* America's registered nurses report that health and safety concerns play a major role in their decisions to remain in the profession, according to findings from a Health and Safety Survey released in 2001. In the survey, over 70 percent (70.5 percent) of nurses cited the acute and chronic effects of stress and overwork as one of their top three health and safety concerns. Yet nurses continue to be pushed harder--with more than two-thirds reporting that they work some type of unplanned overtime every month.

* The American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Nursing Services Recognition Program offers guidelines designed to shift hospital administrators' focus from expensive, short-sighted recruitment efforts to meaningful retention strategies. Hospitals that have been designated as "magnets" have been found in studies to attract and retain professional nurses who experienced a high degree of professional and personal satisfaction through their practice. "Magnet" criteria can be used by nurses and administrators to assess their own facilities for improvements. For details regarding this program, see www.nursecredentialing.org/magnet