14 Most Interesting Facts About Nursing

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14 Most Interesting Facts About Nursing

14 Most Interesting Facts About Nursing

As a nurse, nursing student, or someone interested in becoming a nurse, you might know a lot about nursing. You may already know that nursing is one of the most important professions in the world today, for example, and that it combines scientific thinking with a compassionate heart. If you are like many people, though, you may not know some of the fun facts about nurses and the nursing profession.

14 Fascinating Facts About Nurses and the Nursing Profession

1. Nursing is considered the most honest and ethical profession in the United States

Every year, Gallup asks U.S. adults to rate the honesty and ethics of a number of professions, and for 18 years in a row, Americans overwhelmingly rate nurses as the most honest and ethical. Nurses beat out many other honest and ethical professionals, including engineers, doctors, pharmacists, police officers, psychiatrists, and even clergy for the top spot.

2. Nurses can be doctors

It’s true! Nurses can obtain a Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing (Ph.D.), which is a research-focused doctorate, or a Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) that is the highest available degree in nursing.

3. The first known nursing school was established in India in 250 BCE

Only male students could attend nursing school at the time.

4. Florence Nightingale introduced sanitation practices to nursing and also helped shape the iconic nursing cap

Florence Nightingale was instrumental in developing many of the hygiene and sanitation practices now used in modern nursing. “The Lady with the Lamp” also helped shape the uniform used by nurses – particularly the cap. Nuns who cared for the ill had worn head coverings and veils for centuries. Nightingale’s caps sat on top of the head to hold the nurses’ hair back; different styles of caps could denote the seniority of the nurse.

Most nurses no longer wear the cap because of its potential for bacterial contamination, which is a bit ironic, considering Florence Nightingale was a champion of both hygiene and the nurse’s cap.

5. Linda Richards was the first person to earn a nursing diploma in the U.S.

Linda Richards was the first American to earn a nursing degree. She enrolled in the new nursing program at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, was the program’s first graduate in 1873.

6. … she also invented written patient records

After graduation, Richards took a position at New York’s Bellevue Hospital Training School, where she noticed that nurses worked primarily as maids, cleaning, and doing laundry in addition to providing nursing care to patients. She also noticed that doctor and nurse reports were almost always verbal, which frequently created confusion. Richards became superintendent of the training school at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital in 1874, and implemented changes that relieved nurses of their custodial duties and integrated written records into standard nursing care.

7. Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first African American nurse

Born to freed slaves in 1845, Mary Eliza Mahoney enrolled in the nursing school operated by the New England Hospital for Women and Children in 1878. Of the 42 students that entered the program that year, only four completed it – Mary Eliza Mahoney was one of those four students.

8. Nurses walk an average of 4 to 5 miles in a 12-hour shift

A recent study found that nurses walk 4 to 5 miles in a 12-hour shift. By comparison, the average American adult walks 2.5 to 3 miles over the course of an 18-hour day.

9. Lucretia Lester was a midwife superstar

Lucretia Lester, a well-known pediatric nurse and midwife reportedly delivered 1300 babies between 1745 and 1779, and reputedly only lost two.

10. There are millions of great paying nurse jobs in the U.S.

There are 3,059,800 nurse jobs in the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and occupation is growing much faster than other professions. The median pay is $35.24 per hour, which works out to $73,300 per year.

11. Nurses don’t always work in hospitals

While about 60 percent of nurses work in hospitals, others work in ambulatory healthcare services such as doctor’s offices and outpatient care centers, and in nursing homes and residential care communities, at government agencies, and in educational services.

12. Walt Whitman was a nurse

The famous poet and essayist worked as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War. Some of his works, such as “The Wound Dresser” and “Memoranda During the War,” reflect on his battlefield nursing experience.

13. Being a nurse is very satisfying

According to Medscape’s Nurse Career Satisfaction Report 2018, most nurses were satisfied with their jobs. This survey of 10,284 nurses, including RNs, nurse practitioners (NPs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), clinical nurse specialists, nurse midwives, and certified nurse anesthetists asked nurses to rate their job satisfaction. RNs, NPs, and LPNs reported 98 percent job satisfaction, while the other nurses reported job satisfaction rates of 94 to 96 percent.

14. 2020 is Year of the Nurse and Midwife

The World Health Organization (WHO) designated 2020 as “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” in recognition of the vital role nurses and nurse-midwives play in providing health care. WHO also noted that nurses are often the first and only point of care in a community and that nurses often face challenging conditions. Of course, the organization could not possibly have predicted just how important nurses would be during 2020, considering the COVID-19 pandemic and other events occurring this year.

Today, now more than ever, nurses do important work and are essential members of the community. Nurses are also some of the most interesting people you might ever meet.

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