Did you know that one of the first recorded reference to the nursing profession is on a pillar in India built around 250 B.C.?

Or that around the turn of the last century nurses worked, on average, 56 hours per week?

You don’t have to go back hundreds or thousands of years to hear some fascinating facts, however. Here are 10 thought-provoking statistics about modern nursing.

1. As of September 2016, there were 3.2 million professionally active registered nurses (RNs) in the United States.
2. When asked to rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in various professions in a 2016 Gallup poll, Americans ranked nurses as the most trustworthy.
3. In 1970, men accounted for only 2.7 percent of registered nurses in the US. As of the most recent census, male RNs make up nearly 10 percent of the nursing workforce.
4. RNs make up the highest percentage of the healthcare workforce in the United States.
5. There are more than four times as many RNs in the United States as physicians.
6. Over half of health professions students are nursing students.
7. The National Center for Workforce Analysis (an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), predicts that by 2020, there will be over 800,000 unfilled RN positions.
8. Nurses are more likely than construction workers to suffer a back injury during their shift.
9. The nursing industry reports the second highest number of non-fatal work-related injuries in the country and the highest incidence of musculoskeletal injuries.
10. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of RNs is anticipated to expand from 2.71 million in 2012 to 3.24 million in 2022 — a 19 percent increase.

For even more interesting statistics about modern nursing, visit the American Association of Colleges of Nursing website.

To continue expanding your knowledge base, download the free eBook, How Nurses Can Increase Satisfaction through Patient-Centered Care, and learn how this approach revolutionizes the patient experience.