The purpose of nursing is to support people in getting and staying well through educating, collaborating with and advocating for the health of the public. This definition covers a variety of roles from health education, consultation and screening (community, workplace) to primary (schools, clinics), secondary (long-term, clinic) and tertiary (institutional) care. Nearly everyone at some time in their life needs and can be served well by consulting a professional nurse.

Registered nurses (RNs) make up the largest health care occupation. There are about 2.6 million nursing jobs (US Dept. of Labor) in the US and 14.5 million worldwide (WHO).

Even though ninety seven percent of the population, who can effectively use nursing expertise, is not in an institution; sixty percent of nurses work in tertiary institutional nursing roles. This is why when people think of nurses, they think of hospital care. Read the rest of this entry »