Racial or ethnic minority groups account for around one-fourth of the registered nurse workforce in the U.S., according to a new HHS report.
The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, in collaboration with the U.S Census Bureau, conducted the 2018 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. They collected data from 50,273 RNs, who completed the survey, from April 2018 to October 2018. The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis is a part of HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration.
Seven survey findings:
1. There are an estimated 3.95 million licensed RNs living in the United States.
2. The average age of an RN is about 48 years old; 47.5 percent of RNs are older than 50.
3. Most of the RN workforce is college-educated (63.9 percent), of which nurses with a master's or doctorate degrees account for 19.3 percent.
5. Advanced practice RNs account for about 11.5 percent of the nursing workforce.
6. Racial and ethnic minority groups account for 26.7 percent of the RN workforce. Hispanic RNs make up the majority, accounting for 10.2 percent, followed by black, non-Hispanic, RNs (7.8 percent) and Asian, non-Hispanic RNs (5.2 percent).
7. Male RNs represent 9.6 percent of the population, an increase from 7.1 percent in the 2008 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses.