Report: 2,000 Nurses Reveal The Realities of Nursing in 2023
Key Findings From Nurse.org's 2023 State of Nursing Report
Nurse.org first released the State of Nursing report in 2022, ?with the aim to understand the true state of the nursing profession – from how nurses are being treated to their feelings about the future of nursing to what nurses think needs to change. The report revealed some harsh truths about the profession, but also spoke to the strength, perseverance, and passion that nurses have for their work. We're proud it was also recognized with a Gold award in the Digital Health Awards, Best Media/Publications Article.
In late 2022, we relaunched an updated survey, asking more than 2,100 nurses about the real issues they were facing every day, then had a panel of nurses from different specialties and backgrounds peer review it. We’ve published the results in our 2023 State of Nursing report .?
The findings have shown that while nurses are still struggling in many ways, they are doing slightly better than they were in 2021, and the industry is not without hope.?
The 2023 State of Nursing Findings
The survey revealed that nurses continue to feel burnt out, overwhelmed with continued staffing shortages, and uncertain about the future.?
The survey looked at five key issues in nursing including:?
Overall, the majority of nurses still love being a nurse but a large percentage are concerned about the future of nursing. There are endless possibilities and career opportunities for nurses, especially those with a BSN but a significant number of respondents are not optimistic about the future of nursing.
Nurses have mixed responses on how they feel about choosing nursing as their career. Only 36% of respondents are happy they chose the profession, while 40% are not. Unfortunately, it’s not surprising that a larger number of nurses are unhappy about choosing the profession, especially as more and more are leaving traditional bedside nursing for non-traditional roles.?
Compared to 2021, the 2022 survey found that a larger percentage of nurses are “thinking about changing jobs within the nursing profession” as well as “thinking about staying in healthcare but getting away from the bedside.” Interestingly, slightly more nurses said they were happier in their current positions in 2022 (16%) than in 2021 (12%).
There is a lot to unpack in the new survey. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the key aspects of the 2023 State of Nursing.?
1. Nurses Love What They Do, But Have Some Concerns About the Future of Nursing
Despite everything that's happened this past year, nurses still love what they do. In fact, 60% of nurses still love being a nurse.?
Why Nurses Became Nurses
When asked why nurses got into nursing in the first place, the most popular answer by far was to help others. Some of the other popular reasons were due to the large number of career and specialty options to choose from, and because a friend or family member was a nurse.?
One responded by saying, “I became a nurse because I saw my grandmother care for so many people growing up.” ?- Joelin
Another said, “I’ve always wanted to help people so I wanted to enter the health sector. While researching, I found out that nurses were the heart of the hospital. So, I decided to become a nurse to be the patient’s helping hand.” - Clare
The Majority of Nurses Have Concerns About the Future of Nursing
But even with all this love for their career, when asked "Do you agree or disagree with the statement, 'I'm optimistic about the future of nursing'?" 62% answered "Disagree" with only 18% replying "Agree."
2. Nurses Are Dealing With Slightly Less Burnout, Mental Health Issues, Lack of Support, and Workplace Violence Than in 2021
Rates of burnout, mental health suffering, and lack of support have all improved since 2021, but only marginally.?
45% of nurses have felt unsafe at work in the past year, which is down from 56% in 2021. Despite the fact that there have been numerous reports of violence against nurses this past year.?
Are Nurses Happy With Their Chosen Profession?
Nursing is an honorable profession and one that most are proud to be a part of. Unfortunately, this past year – in fact, the past several years – has been rough. And as a result, nurses have mixed feelings about choosing the profession:?
3. 39% of Nurses Are Dissatisfied With Their Current Job, But Satisfaction Is Impacted by Education Level and Specialty
When asked how satisfied nurses are with their current job, 39% of nurses reported feeling dissatisfied, while only 28% are actually satisfied with their current job.?
Job Satisfaction Varies Based on Level of Education and Specialty
Not all nurses are equally dissatisfied. In fact, nurses with higher levels of education reported higher satisfaction ratings.?
Nurses with a post-grad certificate or diploma had the highest levels of satisfaction 55%, followed by doctoral degree holders 35%, nurses with a master’s degree 34%, and bachelor’s degree-educated nurses 28%.?
The least satisfied nurses were those with a nursing certificate or diploma, with just 22% of them reporting they were satisfied with their jobs.?
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When it comes to satisfaction rates by specialties, Non-bedside nurses are the most satisfied out of any nursing professionals. This is not surprising as more nurses left the bedside during the COVID-19 pandemic and found less traditional nursing professions.?
What is surprising is that obstetric nurses found their position the least satisfying. The list ranges from acute care to emergency medicine. The full list from most satisfied to least satisfied are:?
4. Nurses Are Slightly Less Likely to Want to Change Careers in 2022, But More Likely to Want to Leave the Bedside?
When asked about their career plans, 16% of nurses reported being happy where they are versus 12% in 2021. But more nurses want to leave the bedside, 35% in 2022 vs. 29% in 2021.?
Nurses are leaving for a variety of positions away from the bedside. Some of the most popular responses for leaving the bedside were:
What Is the Impact of All These Nurses Leaving the Bedside?
Nursing is already seeing a significant shortage, especially in bedside positions. So, the fact that “retired” was the top reason for nurses leaving the bedside is a concerning finding.
The Baby Boomer generation is retiring and causing a further increase in the need for bedside nurses. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 6% from 2021 to 2031 and there is an expected need for an additional 195,400 nurses by 2031.
5. Nurses Think That the Nursing Shortage Has Gotten Worse
91% of nurses believe the nursing shortage is getting worse and that burnout, poor working conditions, and inadequate pay are the primary causes.
Interestingly, the greater number of patients due to an aging population, changes to the medicare/healthcare system, and lack of nursing school educators/faculty got the least amount of responses; however, those factors directly impact the top responses chosen by nurses.?
Staffing Remains an Issue
Staffing remains one of the biggest issues for respondents. 79% of nurses say their units are inadequately staffed, which is down just 1% from 2021. It seems that staffing will not get much better as the shortage only worsens.?
The nursing job that has seen the biggest staffing shortages was float nurses (90%). Float nurses typically work in multiple units throughout a hospital or healthcare system. This answer is slightly alarming because float nurses illustrate the overall shortage of a hospital and not just a specific unit. Other specialties that reported high levels of inadequate staffing are:
What Would Help the Nursing Shortage? Better Staffing Ratios, Better Pay, and Better Working Conditions
When asked to choose the factors that would make the biggest impact on the nursing shortage, the top responses were improved staffing ratios (71%), better pay (64%), and better working conditions (41%).?
The factors that got the least amount of votes were efforts to reduce workplace violence (11%), mental health support (10%), and efforts to increase the number of nurse educators and faculty (7%).??
6. Nurses Want Better Pay
Confirming nurses' reports that better pay would help the nursing shortage, the survey found that even though 55% of nurses saw a pay increase in the past year, 75% of nurses still feel underpaid. Additionally,? 52% of nurses believe that their hospital does not pay nurses with similar experiences equally.??
How Much Do Nurses Make?
On average, nurses in 2023 earned between $61-80K a year.?
The list of nurses that feel underpaid is long and each of the positions had over 50% responding that they feel underpaid.
% of Nurses That Feel Underpaid by Job
So, What Now?
Nursing has long been an admirable and trustworthy profession – ranked as the most honest profession 21 times . But nurses need help, now more than ever.?
Nurses need support from administrators, coworkers, and overall healthcare systems to help get them things like:??
Regardless of what path your nursing career is headed, know that you are not alone. While you may be currently working long shifts in the ICU or overseeing hundreds of school students as a school nurse, your nursing trajectory might change.?
Nursing can open endless doors and possibilities. Always be ready for what could come next and along the way just know that you are doing enough for your patients, your families, and yourself.?
“Nurses, we need you. Nursing has always been the glue that holds healthcare together, and with continued strains on the profession, it's vital that we lean on our resilience, our community, and our ingenuity to work towards change.?
The Covid-19 pandemic exposed problems not only in our healthcare system, but the unsettling work conditions that nurses face everyday. While there is still much work to do, we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.??
We must not give up. We are being heard and must push forward to see the action through. Progress can, and is, being made, but we need everyone, so please hang in there and let's fight the good fight in unity.”?
- Nurse Alice Benjamin, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, FNP-C, CCRN, CEN, CV-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and Correspondent at Nurse.org
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Medical Assistant, MA-C
1 年Nurses are not the only ones that are facing these problems/changes in healcare, medical assistants have been dealing with these issues as well. Most MA's don't get the same support as Nurses.
LPN with a passion for patients' independent living/health maintenance. Education and prevention...this is the way.
1 年The fact that we have to create a task force to "open up" the conversation about nurses being abused by notnonly their patients but by their companies means that conversation will fall on deaf ears. I'm saving to start my own business. If I had a hint of the actual reality of nursing, I would've picked differently
Medical Laboratory Technologist -Retired
1 年The money goes to management/administration.
Board Member Emeritus Group, Former Chief Clinical Officer and VP Business Development
1 年Perhaps a good start to recognizing the clinician skills of nursing would be framing their degrees and advanced certificates in prominent places on the walls of the facility, or on their clinical units. Imagine how patients and visitors would view this!!!
Board Member Emeritus Group, Former Chief Clinical Officer and VP Business Development
1 年As a nurse celebrating a 46 year career, I remain distressed that the mantra that “nurses are caring” is still the primary attribute with which nurses are viewed. If we changed the dialog to “nurses are highly educated and skilled clinicians, qualified in physiology, disease management, and sub-specialties” we would change the paradigm. In this country, we willingly pay a premium price for expertise, knowledge, and educational background in medicine. Earnings for these skills command top dollar among physicians and others. Until revenue and a competitive edge in the marketplace is attributed to nurses, nothing will change. Consumers will pay more for top academic background- nurses go to top schools for basic and advanced education-but it’s not distinguishable nor celebrated. Hospitals do not differentiate themselves by the nurses on staff-they don’t compete for patients based on nursing expertise, background and skills. Until such time as nurse skills are in the “marquee” AND the public chooses their healthcare in part on the qualifications of the nurse clinicians at the facility, I dare say very little will change. And that is sad, indeed.