Nurses Are America’s Most Trusted Profession. Again.
January 17, 2025
For the 23rd year in a row, Gallup’s annual “Most Honest and Ethical Profession Poll” had nurses in the top spot, so this year’s outcome is not a surprise. But it is a great honor. In a span of time when many other professions have declined in public esteem, the public’s admiration for nurses remains steadfast. This year nurses rated higher than grade school teachers, military officers, and other healthcare providers including physicians and pharmacists.
I believe there are two major factors that result in our continued professional recognition.
One is compassion. At Yale and nursing schools across the country, we teach more than the mechanics of nursing. We teach the importance of caring about patients as well as caring for them. It is clear that people want more than to just be “seen” for their medical issues; they want to be heard. Care as well as cure is part of the healing arts—or should be. Nurses listen, whether they are providing primary care in their own practice or clinical care as part of a hospital team.
The other important factor is time. In almost every medical context, a patient will spend the most time receiving care from a nurse. This is true for patients whose primary providers are increasingly nurse practitioners; for patients who are hospitalized; for patients undergoing an anesthesia, and for patients who have specialized medical needs including reproductive care.
The way we receive healthcare is changing. The public is very aware that pharmacists at major chain pharmacies are being pressed to fill prescriptions at unmanageable speeds, and that physician practices and hospitals are often owned by private equity firms for whom the bottom line is the focal point. Nurses are well established as capable providers of primary care, exceptional care at hospitals and clinics, particularly in underserved areas, and groundbreaking research that informs care everywhere.
Nurses are seen by patients as powerful advocates on their behalf, because they are not beholden to other interests. This is why nurses are viewed as honest and ethical. In what has become a profit-driven business, nurses are seen as being consistently on the patient’s side.
Nurses are advocates for health and wellness. They are proponents of prevention and leaders on issues of public health. Increasingly, nurses are also researchers whose attention is focused on practical solutions to healthcare challenges. There is no “profit” in these endeavors, but there is enormous benefit to those we as a profession serve.
I am proud that the Yale School of Nursing is advancing a century-long tradition of exceptional nursing education—nursing education that is forward-looking, technologically-aware, and patient-centric. We are at the leading edge of building the next generation of healthcare by nurses who are compassionate, capable, and interested in population health and wellness promotion, as well as treating illness.
I am also proud of my colleagues, my profession, and our Yale School of Nursing students who will carry forward the legacy of compassion that has made us the nation’s most trusted profession for almost a quarter century.