And the winner of the most trusted profession in the United States is…nurses! At least according to Gallup’s annual survey, that is. Nurses top this list for the 24th consecutive year, with 76 percent of U.S. adults believing these hard-working healthcare professionals have high honesty and ethical standards.
Nurses often don’t get the recognition they deserve. In addition to long hours, demanding workloads, changing shifts, workforce shortages and high patient ratios, they encounter exposure to illness, a lack of advancement opportunities, a risk of workplace violence and occupational safety hazards. No wonder more than 55 percent of nurses experience burnout.
In the U.S., the nursing profession is celebrated every May with National Nurses Week. The first such observance occurred in 1954, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea.
National Nurses Week 2025 runs from May 6 through May 12 and is part of the broader National Nurses Month, celebrated throughout May. This year’s theme is “The Power of Nurses™.” The mission of National Nurses Week is to not only celebrate nurses but also raise awareness about the challenges they face and the crucial need for more nurses in the workforce.
Understanding the Current State of the Nursing Profession
The nursing profession is the largest sector of the U.S. healthcare industry, with more than 4.7 million registered nurses (RNs), 657,800 licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and 299,338 nurse practitioners (NPs). There are more than four times as many RNs in the U.S. as physicians.
About 208,760 RNs in the U.S. are employed at physician offices, representing 7.5 percent of all registered nurses in the healthcare industry. Nurses work in a diverse range of other environments, including general medical and surgical hospitals (55 percent), home healthcare, nursing homes and outpatient surgery centers. They also serve in schools, mental health agencies, hospices, the military, nursing education and healthcare research.
Nurses and other medical professionals are pivotal in ensuring patient safety, improving health outcomes and supporting the broader healthcare community. They play a crucial role in caring for patients, whether administering medication, performing clinical assessments, monitoring vitals, drawing blood, managing communication with their providers or simply listening to the concerns of patients and their families. This, of course, doesn’t take into account the countless hours they spend charting and conducting numerous other administrative tasks.
Nurses spend up to one-third of their shifts performing routine and repetitive administrative tasks, tedious and time-consuming work that detracts from the time they can spend on direct patient care. That administrative burden is compounded by staffing shortages across the country.
The Nationwide Nursing Shortage
The nationwide nursing shortage poses substantial challenges to the healthcare system. One widely-cited study projects a shortfall of 510,394 registered nurses by 2030, with approximately 1.2 million new registered nurses needed to address that deficit. Roughly 40 percent of nurses indicate they are likely to leave their current position in the next six months.
In nursing, shortages lead to errors and higher morbidity and mortality rates. The impact of the nursing shortage on patients includes risk of over- or under-medicating patients, lapses of continuity in treatment, risk of infections and compromised data security.
The nationwide nursing shortage also exacerbates already high nurse-to-patient ratios, which have been associated with higher hospital readmission rates. For each additional patient added to the average nurse’s workload, the odds of a patient dying in the hospital increase by almost 15 percent.
The Impact of Nurse Burnout on Patient Care
Another widespread repercussion of the nursing shortage is burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. More than half of nurses report experiencing burnout.
Multiple factors contribute to nurse burnout, including inadequate staffing, fatigue, chronic lack of sleep and feelings of being constantly overworked but unappreciated. Nurse burnout can manifest in various physical symptoms, such as exhaustion, anxiety, frequent illness, headaches and muscle pain, a change in appetite and a noticeable difference in sleep habits. Emotional symptoms of nurse burnout include:
- Feelings of helplessness
- A sense of failure and self-doubt
- Detachment
- Lack of motivation
- Cynicism
- Decreased career satisfaction
Burnout also has a direct impact on job performance and patient safety. Higher workloads and stress levels lead to an increased risk of medication errors, worse patient outcomes and a decline in the quality of care delivered by nurses. When nurses are overworked and understaffed, it leads to fragmented care, communication breakdowns and increased stress levels among healthcare teams.
Overcoming Challenges: Implementing AI in Healthcare Settings
Digital technology in healthcare can help nurses provide efficient, accurate and personalized care, streamlining administrative tasks and optimizing clinical workflows. These tools enable nurses to focus on more complex tasks and dedicate more time to direct patient care, addressing one of the key contributors to burnout.
Nurses and other healthcare providers staff can utilize AI-powered tools to answer common patient inquiries, automate appointment management, deliver patient education, send preventive screening reminders, promote medication adherence and more. Agentic AI solutions offer patients 24/7 access through multilingual support to expand access to care for individuals with limited English proficiency and improve health literacy and patient engagement.
Agentic AI can also enhance nursing practice by automating routine processes and improving communication among care teams. This not only improves patient outcomes but also supports the nursing workforce by alleviating some of the burdens associated with administrative duties.
Providertech’s agentic AI solution is designed to understand patient communication and adapt accordingly. Meeting healthcare consumers’ expectations for a seamless experience, we ensure patient satisfaction in every interaction — happy patients every single call, every single time.
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