Nursing

Survey says: Bright spots on the radar

Nurse Leader Weekly, February 6, 2006

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Some good news: The number of RNs living and working in the U.S. has increased 7.9% since 2000. Nurses are now 2,909,467 strong in America.

Some great news: Average annual earnings for nurses have increased from $46,782 in 2000 to $57,784 in 2004.

Some impressive news: The number of nurses receiving master's or doctorate degrees has increased 37% since 2000. The number of RNs completing associate and bachelor degree programs has also risen.

According to the 2004-2005 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, things are looking up in the nursing world. The survey, conducted by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) every four years, gathers statistics about employment, education, age, earnings, and other demographical information about RNs.

In addition to the findings above, the study revealed that 83.2% of licensed RNs were employed at the time of the survey-58.3% worked full-time. The majority of RNs (56.2%) were found to be working in hospital settings. Those working in the community and public health sector constituted 14.3%, and those working in nursing homes or extended care facilities constituted 6.3%.

Not all of the findings were rosy, however. The number of nurses under 40 has decreased since 2000, down to 26.6%. Only 16.6% of nurses today are under age 35.

In addition, the under-representation of males and ethnic minorities continues. Only 5.5% of all licensed RNs were male, while less than 15% of RNs fell into a non-White ethnic category.

Additional findings include the following:

  • The average age of the professional nurse has increased from 45.2 years in 2000 to 46.8 years in 2004.
  • The percentage of nurses older than age 50 increased from 24.3% in 2000 to 25.5% in 2004.
  • Advanced practice nurses, including clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners, now make up 8.3% of the total nurse population, up from 7.3% in 2000.

Source: AMN Healthcare and HRSA



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