Survey Shows the Changing Face of Nursing

California is often called a bellwether state because trends are likely to begin here and that’s important because it has more than 10 percent of the country’s population. So it was with great interest that I read the results of the recently published California Board of Registered Nursing 2008 Survey of Registered Nurses.

There’s a lot of interesting information in this 218-page report, which contains lot of easy-to-understand tables and graphs. (I confess; I didn’t read the entire thing, but if you’re interested, visit http://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/forms/survey2008.pdf.

This is the sixth time the survey has been conducted – the previous one was conducted just two years ago – and about 56 percent of California’s nurses responded to the survey. That’s a huge response rate in a pollster’s world.

Like the 2004 & 2006 surveys, the 2008 survey targeted two populations:
• RNs with active California licenses living in and outside California.
• RNs with inactive status since 2006.

The survey found that there have been some major changes within the California nursing community since that first survey in 1990.

• In the last 18 years, the average age of working RNs rose from 42.9 to 47.1 years.
• More than 14 percent of nurses are men.
• In 1990, more than three-fourths of nurses were white; now that number is about 58 percent. Filipinos represent 18 percent of the RN workforce and Hispanics 7.5 percent . About 4 percent are Black/African American. The remaining 12 percent are non-Filipino/Indian Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian and mixed ethnicity.
• In 1990, about a third of all nurses received their initial education in a diploma program; that has dropped to about 14 percent.
• Nurses new to the job with baccalaureate or master’s degrees rose from about 29 percent in 1990 to 39 percent in 2008.
• Nurses today average 27 years old at graduation and 12 percent have earned a master’s or doctoral degree.

What about the money?

It’s better. Incomes for nurses in California have risen dramatically in the last 18 years. In 1990, the average annual income was $31,504. By 2008, it was $81,428. A fifth of respondents reported earnings of more than $100,000.

Most working nurses get benefits, too. Nearly 85 percent of nurses received retirement benefits and health insurance, and nearly 9 out of 10 received dental insurance.

Why do nurses do what they do?

The survey found that it’s because they like the interactions with patients, feel that their work is meaningful and that they have job security. Most also are happy with their work schedule.

What gets under nurses’ skin?

Definitely the paperwork and other non-nursing tasks. Many also are not happy with administration and management decisions – complaints that have not changed much since the 2006 survey.