Nurses Ranked Most Trusted Profession for the 21st Year Amid the Nursing Shortage

• Nurses topped Gallup's honesty and ethics ranking for the 21st straight year, with 79% rating them high or very high.
• The recognition landed while nurses were still navigating the staffing shortage and a wave of strikes.
• ANA leadership praised nurses while warning about the pressures still bearing down on the profession.

Nurses ranked as the most trusted profession for the 21st year running, according to a Gallup poll released in January 2023. Americans have put nurses at the top every year since 2002. Nurses also won in 1999 and 2000, with firefighters breaking the streak in 2001 after September 11.

Seventy-nine percent of people rated nurses' honesty and ethics high or very high, 17 points clear of any other profession. Twenty-nine percent rated them very high, 12 points more than the next group, medical doctors. Doctors and pharmacists took second and third, at 62% and 58% rated highly, a sign that the public trusts its healthcare providers above most other fields.

"This recognition belongs to America's 4.4 million incredible nurses," said ANA President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy. "For more than two decades now, the nation has recognized the vital role you play in keeping our friends, families, and communities safe and healthy."

Trust Has Not Translated to Better Conditions

The honor arrived while nurses were still under pressure from the shortage. On January 9, 2023, nurses in New York City walked out over wages, benefits, and safe staffing ratios; the strike ended after three days.

Senior nurse writer and family nurse practitioner Joelle Jean argues the poll does not reflect how nurses are actually valued. "It took threats of a strike and a recent three-day strike in New York to get the attention of hospitals for a fair contract that includes safe nurse-to-patient ratios, fair wages, and health benefits," she says. "Nurses aren't valued in the healthcare system because they are considered an expense, not an asset."

Jean adds that recognition and understanding are not the same thing. "The public trusts us, but they still really don't know what nurses do, how difficult and task-oriented the job is, and how it's not okay to have us work short," she says. "An airline won't even take off if it is short-staffed. Working short as a nurse should be held to the same standard."

Mensik Kennedy paired her congratulations with a warning. "Though COVID-19 may have receded from the headlines, it continues to weigh on nurses in communities and care settings in every corner of the country," she said, pointing to a severe flu season, an RSV surge, and the threat of workplace violence. "In short, I am gravely concerned about our nation's nurses and the nursing profession."

What Nurses Want to See Change

Nurses have asked for the same things since before the pandemic: a safe environment for themselves and their patients, and the staffing to deliver good care. A March 2022 ANA report listed the staffing fixes nurses pointed to most:

• More travel nurses (62%)
• More nurses and support staff (52%)
• Higher wages, bonuses, and incentives (49%)
• Changed staffing models (18%)
• A larger float pool (18%)
• More LPNs, CNAs, and patient care technicians (16%)
• Breaks they can actually take (15%)
• Vacation days they can actually use (15%)

Other fixes cost nothing: listen to nurses, ask for their feedback, and prioritize retention. All of it, though, requires administrators and nurses to agree. "I am urging the public and private sector to work together with nurses to develop solutions to the numerous long-standing crises that have plagued nursing for too long," Mensik Kennedy said.

Jean puts the culture problem plainly. "When policies change, it lands on the nurses' shoulders to implement them. The hospital system is broken, and what needs to change is the culture. It is top down, do as I say. It needs to be less punitive, lateral, and collaborative, with nurses at the table making decisions."