Nursing Facts: 8 Things You Should Know About the Nursing Profession

                Nursing Facts: 8 Things You Should Know About the Nursing Profession

Advanced Nursing 2021

Did you know that nursing students account for over half of all health care students? Nursing is not only an important job, but also a booming profession. And those who earn a degree from a nursing program are not only learning valuable skills that can help them make a difference in the lives of others, but they are also entering an evolving and expanding profession with the necessary tools to succeed. Discover more about the profession with these nine interesting nursing facts.

Intriguing and Useful Nursing Facts

If you are interested in studying to become a nurse, these eight nursing facts cover not only the current state of nursing in the U.S., but also its projected future in years to come.

The Beginnings of the Nursing Profession

The history of professional nursing traditionally begins with Florence Nightingale, the well-educated daughter of wealthy British parents who defied social convention by deciding to become a nurse, then considered a low-status profession. She tended to injured soldiers in the Crimean War in the 1850s and played a significant role in changing the nature of the nursing profession in the 19th century. She opened the first professional nursing school in 1855 at St. Thomas Hospital in London.

Candidates Can Choose from More Than One Hundred Nursing Professions

An article in Medical News Today notes more than one hundred nursing professions. Specialties include ambulatory, geriatrics, hospice, nephrology, neuroscience, pediatrics, radiology, rheumatology, telemetry, transplant, and trauma. According to an article on Gap Medics, the following are some of the most popular specialties or professions within the nursing field: nurse midwife, ICU, nurse practitioner, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), medical surgery, and oncology.

By 2020, More Than 800,000 RN Positions Are Expected to Go Unfilled Nationwide

According to the American Nurses Association, there will be “far more registered nurse jobs available than any other profession, at more than 100,000 per year.” Yet, many of those jobs are set to remain unfilled due to a combination of open positions and nurse retirement. More than 200,000 nursing positions are expected to remain unfilled by 2026.

Nearly 3 Million Nurses Are Employed in the United States

Registered nurse positions are opening up as demand for health care services expands along with the aging U.S. population. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), registered nurses held just under 3 million jobs in 2016 — 2,955,200 positions. The BLS projects 3,393,200 open positions by 2026, an increase of 15% in a 10-year period. In fact, an American Nurse Today (ANT) article notes 3.1 million to 3.6 million registered nurses already work in the U.S. today, meaning the projection has almost or already been met. These nursing facts bode well for future job hunters in the nursing profession.

Nurses Deliver Most of the Nation’s Long-Term Care

An ANT article notes that nurses handle the majority of our nation’s long-term medical care — care provided over a long period of time for people with chronic illness or disability, delivered at home or in health care spaces. According to LongTermCare.gov, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, people turning 65 have a 70% chance of needing a long-term care service, with 20% needing care for more than five years. With hundreds of thousands of elderly people needing long-term care, nurses play a critical role in enabling more people to receive it.

Up to 62.2% of all Employed RNs Work in Hospitals

Hospitals are always a hive of activity. Nurses, physicians, technicians, therapists, medical assistants, patients, and their loved ones all have someplace to be or someone to talk to. That means many people may not realize just how strong the presence of nurses really is in an active hospital. For instance, according to an article in ANT, nurses are the largest group of hospital staff. Throughout a hospital, most health-care-related tasks are carried out by dedicated nurses. In fact, according to the same ANT article, 62.2% of all registered nurses work in hospitals.

Demand Is High for Home Health Care Nurses

As many hospitals shift focus to acute and specific care, many private health care options — such as home health care, outpatient centers, and neighborhood clinics — are expanding, opening up job opportunities for registered nurses. According to a 2014 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12,400 home health agencies served up to 4.9 million patients who received care at home. With so many people already using home health care, as well as more people aging into care in the future, nurses capable of working in home health care may find that there is no shortage of job opportunities.

General Nursing Practices Are Typically the Same the World Over

No matter where you go in the world, general nursing practices are typically pretty similar. According to an article published in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN), common universal themes include the different education levels for nurses moving up into more complex roles, credentialing standards to create a level of safety, nursing positions being held mostly by women, nursing occurring within a medical structure, and the existence of nurse shortages.

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Study shows nurses' scrubs become contaminated with bacteria in hospitals

 Study shows nurses' scrubs become contaminated with bacteria in hospitals

Advanced Nursing 2021, Tokyo, Japan

Clothing worn by healthcare providers can become contaminated with bacteria, however having nurses wear scrubs with antimicrobial properties did not prevent this bacterial contamination from occurring, according to a study published online in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

As part of the Antimicrobial Scrub Contamination and Transmission (ASCOT) Trial, researchers from Duke University Hospital, followed 40 nurses who wore three different types of scrubs over three consecutive 12-hour shifts, taking a series of cultures from each nurses' clothing, patients, and the environment before and after each shift.

"Healthcare providers must understand that they can become contaminated by their patients and the environment near patients," said Deverick J. Anderson, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention at Duke University Medical Center and lead author of the study. "Although not effective, we looked to eliminate this risk for contamination by changing the material of nurses' scrubs."

In a random rotation, each nurse wore traditional cotton-polyester scrubs, scrubs that contained silver-alloy embedded in its fibers, or another type of scrub treated with a combination of antibacterial materials. The nurses did not know which scrubs they were wearing.

The researchers analyzed 2,919 cultures from bed rails, beds, and supply carts in each room and 2,185 cultures from the sleeve, abdomen and pocket of nurses' scrubs. No differences in contamination were found based on the type of scrubs worn.

Researchers identified new contamination during 33 percent, or 39 of 120 shifts. Scrubs became newly contaminated with bacteria during 16 percent, or 19 out of 120, shifts studied, including three cases of contamination of nurses' scrubs while caring for patients on contact precautions where patients were known to be infected with drug-resistant bacteria and personnel entering the room were required to put on gloves and gowns. The mostly commonly transmitted pathogen was Staphylococcus aureus including MRSA and methicillin susceptible S. aureus. The nurses in the study worked in medical and surgical intensive care units, caring for one to two patients per shift.

"There is no such thing as a sterile environment," said Anderson. "Bacteria and pathogens will always be in the environment. Hospitals need to create and use protocols for improved cleaning of the healthcare environment, and patients and family members should feel empowered to ask healthcare providers if they are doing everything they can to keep their loved one from being exposed to bacteria in the environment."

The authors note that the scrubs were likely ineffective at reducing pathogens because of the low-level disinfectant capabilities of the textiles, coupled with repeated exposure in a short timeframe. They suggest antimicrobial-impregnated textiles might be effective if used in bed linens and patient gowns, given the prolonged exposure to patients.

Given the findings, the authors recommend diligent hand hygiene following all patient room entries and exits and, when appropriate, use of gowns and gloves- even if no direct patient care is performed to reduce the risk of clothing contamination of healthcare providers.