A Gallup poll has once again ranked nurses at the top of their survey on the public’s view of what professionals are the most honest and ethical. This poll result mirrors extensive polling the Massachusetts Nurses Association has done over the years concerning the opinion of Massachusetts residents about which professionals are the most trusted on health care issues. As with the Gallup poll, a nurse is always ranked as the most trusted voice on health care issues.
“Nurses, particularly those on the front lines of our health care system, have earned the trust of the public because of their commitment, first and foremost, to the welfare of their patients,” said Donna Kelly-Williams, RN, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. “In hospitals, nurses provide 90 percent of the clinical care patients receive, and they are there every day, on every shift advocating for their patients, listening to their patients, and educating their patients when they are the most vulnerable. The public sees how hard nurses work in every health care setting and it is clear from this and other surveys that they appreciate it.”
The key, Kelly-Williams added, is to convince employers of nurses to acknowledge the value of nurses and to provide them with the working conditions nurses need to provide the quality and safety of care patients expect and deserve. “In the current economic climate, this is becoming harder and harder to achieve,” Kelly-Williams said. “In hospitals and in other settings, staffing levels have been cut, resources and support to care for patients are being slashed, and nurses are being asked to do more with less at a time when patients are sicker than ever before.”
Kelly-Williams points out that it is the work of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, along with National Nurses United, the recently formed national nurses union, to mobilize nurses across the state and across the nation to work with the public to convince health care employers to provide nurses with the tools they need to provide first-rate care.
