Americans Favor Nurses Over Doctors for Quality Health Care

Nurses are starting the new year on a high note.

Nurses beat out doctors and other healthcare systems to nab the top spot for providing Americans with quality medical care, according to 82% of the people surveyed in Gallup’s 2023 Health and Healthcare poll published in December. 

Doctors, however, took a distant second place with 69% and hospitals were ranked third with 58% citing excellent or good care. 

Meanwhile, only a little more than half of Americans are happy with the medical services they receive at an urgent care clinic or telehealth appointment. 

“​​Not only are nurses widely respected for the care they provide, but they have avoided the steep decline in ratings that has befallen much of their industry,” Gallup reported.

Nurses have managed to retain their top spot despite struggles in the healthcare industry in recent years with COVID-19 stress, severe flu seasons and, most recently, mounting pressure and tensions from growing healthcare staffing shortages.

However, the looming mental health crisis and lack of adequate pay for nurses have added a lot of strain on the already-taxed essential workers, with an estimated 900,000, or almost one-fifth of registered nurses, intending to leave the workforce by 2027 due to “stress, burnout and retirement,” according to a study in April led by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.

On the other hand, health insurance companies and nursing homes ranked at the bottom of the list. 

This is in line with another Gallup poll where 70% stated they would hesitate to opt for nursing home care in case of a medical need because they were skeptical about the “quality of care” they would receive. In fact, on average, more than four in 10 Americans gave a D+ grade for nursing homes’ quality of care. 

Overall, nurses topping the list doesn’t come as a surprise. 

In fact, it mirrors their standing as the “most trusted profession” for 21 consecutive years on another Gallup poll conducted last year, with ​​Americans saying they had “very high” or “high” honesty and ethical standards.

Additionally, nurses have surpassed doctors and other medical services in healthcare polls since 2010. The only exception, according to Gallup, is urgent care clinics, “whose rating is roughly the same as 2010.”

As for telehealth visits, while roughly half of American adults believe they receive excellent or good care, Gallup notes that the lackluster numbers might indicate that “consumers sense something is missing in the virtual healthcare experience.”