Public Ranks Nurses Highest for Providing ‘Excellent’ Health Care

January 29, 2024 by Elisa Becze BA, ELS, Editor

Nurses are at the top of the U.S. public’s list of high-quality healthcare providers, according to (https://news.gallup.com/poll/547505/nurses-first-doctors-distant-second-healthcare-provider-ratings.aspx) the results of a new Gallup poll assessing opinions about the care provided in the U.S. healthcare system.

Gallup conducted its 2023 Health and Healthcare survey from November 1–21. Respondents overwhelmingly ranked (https://news.gallup.com/poll/547505/nurses-first-doctors-distant-second-healthcare-provider-ratings.aspx) nurses the highest in providing “excellent or good” clinical care (82%), followed by physicians (69%), hospitals (58%), walk-in or urgent care clinics (56%), and telemedicine or virtual physician visits (52%). At the bottom of the list were hospital emergency rooms (47%), pharmaceutical or drug companies (33%), health insurance companies (31%), and nursing homes (25%).

Nurses also led the list the previous two times that Gallup conducted the poll (2003 and 2010), the organization reported (https://news.gallup.com/poll/547505/nurses-first-doctors-distant-second-healthcare-provider-ratings.aspx). Gallup also pointed out the findings’ congruence with its annual Honesty and Ethics poll results (https://news.gallup.com/poll/467804/nurses-retain-top-ethics-rating-below-2020-high.aspx), which nurses have topped for more than 20 years.

The public’s perception of nurses’ ethics and excellence gives nursing voices tremendous power among policymakers. When you use that power to share your stories about oncology nursing policy priorities (https://www.ons.org/make-a-difference/advocacy-policy/ons-policy-issues), real change can happen. Findings like Gallup’s demonstrate that the public supports ONS’s health policy priority to promote the value of nurses (https://www.ons.org/make-a-difference/advocacy-policy/ons-policy-issues#:~:text=value%20of%20oncology%20nurses%20), whether in clinical practice or regulation and policy, and lawmakers are starting to understand that too.

Tell your representatives about:

Be a public health advocate and tell your patients and community about cancer prevention recommendations (https://www.ons.org/make-a-difference/advocacy-policy/ons-policy-issues#:~:text=radiotherapy%2C%20and%20surgery.-,cancer%20prevention,-Oncology%20nurses%20play), such as:

Advocate for ways to grow the profession and combat the nursing shortage, including:


Copyright © 2024 by the Oncology Nursing Society. User has permission to print one copy for personal or unit-based educational use. Contact pubpermissions@ons.org for quantity reprints or permission to adapt, excerpt, post online, or reuse ONS Voice content for any other purpose.