News & Events

Annual Gallup Survey of ‘Most Honest and Ethical Professions’ Puts Nurses in Top Spot for 23rd Straight Year

Since the current Gallup survey began in 1999, Americans have said they trust nurses most of all professionals in all but one year

CANTON, Mass. – As patient care access and safety remains under threat from a financially driven healthcare system, nurses have been recognized for their efforts to protect patients by receiving the top ranking among the nation’s most honest and ethical professions for the 23rd straight year, according to Gallup’s annual survey.

Nurses are viewed as having “very high” or “high” ethical and honesty standards by 76% of the public, 15 points higher than any other profession even as the Gallup poll this year saw an overall decline in trust among most professions surveyed. For comparison, the average trust level of professions ranked was 30% this year, and only 12% of Americans said they trusted business executives.

“Americans see nurses for who they truly are – expert caregivers who can be trusted with your life and whose ethics guide their advocacy for patient safety,” said Katie Murphy, a practicing ICU nurse, and President of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. “Massachusetts patients are endangered by a broken healthcare system as evidenced by the Steward Healthcare bankruptcy and the dangerous conditions at Tenet Healthcare’s hospitals. MNA nurses’ fights against for-profit healthcare and our passionate advocacy for patient care access and safety demonstrate why nurses are the most trusted profession.”

According to Gallup, nurses have earned the highest rating in every year but one since Gallup added them to the annual survey in 1999. The exception was 2001, when firefighters – included only that year – earned a record 90% trust rating after their heroism in responding to the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.

Nurses Speak out about Safety Challenges

Remaining the most trusted profession comes with its challenges. According to the 2024 State of Nursing in Massachusetts survey, 80% of registered nurses said the quality of patient care in hospitals had gotten significantly worse over the previous two years as they described being emotionally exhausted, increasingly disengaged and more likely to leave the profession or reduce their hours.

  • Not having enough time with patients and caring for too many patients at one time remained the top challenges in the 2024 survey by Beacon Research, with 2/3 of nurses surveyed citing each as a major problem.
  • RNs reported being aware of serious negative outcomes as a result of understaffing, including nurses lacking time to properly comfort and assist patients and families (80% aware), nurses lacking time to educate patients and provide adequate discharge planning (76%), re-admission (65%), medical errors (55%), and even death (26%).
  • Four-in-ten nurses said in the Beacon Research survey they would not feel safe admitting a family member to the unit on which they work.
  • Most nurses (61%) say a lack of proper hospital regulations is contributing to unsafe patient care conditions. Yet Beacon Hill lawmakers are not responding to concerns about unsafe staffing, according to 76% of nurses.

Nurses Face Down For-Profit Healthcare

MNA nurses at St. Vincent Hospital and Framingham Union Hospital have been battling the national for-profit Tenet Healthcare over unsafe staffing levels that have contributed to patient endangerment and death. In December, St. Vincent nurses filed their sixth complaint with state and federal authorities seeking immediate intervention to protect patients and staff, a situation so dire the complaints include a direct appeal to the Department of Public Health to assign onsite inspectors on a daily basis to ensure hospital administration is providing the resources needed to ensure the safety of all concerned.

The efforts by MNA nurses have received widespread media coverage. In September, Framingham nurses filed state and federal complaints against Tenet and held a press conference to share their concerns. This public attention has put pressure on Tenet and public health officials, showcasing nurses’ willingness to speak out on behalf of patients. And last month, the Boston Globe and other media covered ongoing patient safety issues at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, where poor staffing led to two preventable patient deaths, patient falls, and close to 100 preventable pressure ulcers (debilitating bedsores).  The complaints sought and were successful in convincing DPH Commissioner Robbie Goldstein to schedule a meeting with a delegation of Tenet nurses on January 7th, where they provided personal accounts of Tenet’s failure to provide needed care to the patients served by these hospitals.

For years, MNA nurses have rang the alarm about unsafe conditions at Steward Healthcare facilities. Before Steward filed for bankruptcy last year, nurses at Good Samaritan Medical Center filed complaints with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) about dangerous ED conditions. Throughout the bankruptcy process, nurses joined with patients, community members, elected officials and other unions to advocate for the preservation of all of Steward’s Massachusetts hospitals. Nurses also closely monitored and reported on patient safety as the hospitals came under threat of closure.

Nurses Build Power to Advocate for Safe Patient Care

In recent years, there has been unprecedented interest in nurses and healthcare professionals seeking MNA representation as a means of protecting their patients and themselves by having a strong and united voice. These successful organizing drives – both by MNA nurses and healthcare professionals and other unionizing healthcare workers – have been in the public eye through extensive media coverage.

“People see nurses organizing as a way for us to better advocate for our patients,” said Murphy. “We are more trusted as union nurses, have more ways to demonstrate our ethics, and the public appreciates nurses speaking up for their healthcare needs.”

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.