There are currently approximately 2.4 million Registered Nurses in the workforce in America today. (There are more than 2.9 million Registered Nurses in the workforce worldwide.)
Nurses comprise the largest single component of hospital staff, are the primary providers of hospital patient care, and deliver most of the nation's long-term care.
Every year 98,000 deaths occur because of medical errors. Studies show that nurses are responsible for catching nine of 10 medication errors made by physicians, pharmacies and others.
A recent study found that 13% of newly licensed nurses had changed jobs after one year, and 37% reported that they felt ready to change jobs.
For each additional patient a nurse cares for the mortality rate climbs 7%. And when a nurse goes from caring for four patients to caring for eight, the mortality rate soars 31%.
A Harvard University study shows that lowering nursing staff levels is consistently associated with higher patient risks for a wide range of health complications, from pneumonia to upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
Organizations with more registered nurses have up to a 12% reduction in health complications.
