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It's Time For Nurses To Be Heard!
PRNewswire
June 23, 2009
“Nurses’ Choice” Initiative Asks New Jersey Nurses To Select State’s Best Physicians
TRENTON, N.J., June 23 /PRNewswire/ – A unique collaboration between the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute and the Monmouth University Polling Institute with the cooperation of the Institute for Nursing, is asking nurses to register their views on doctors. Called “Nurses’ Choice,” the results of the unique online survey will be published later this year or early next year in New Jersey Monthly magazine.
“For years, organizations and magazines have been compiling lists of the so-called ‘top doctors’ or physicians practicing in New Jersey,” said David L. Knowlton, President and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute. “These lists are always put together by asking physicians who they think are best among their peers. But this year in New Jersey, for the very first time, nurses are being asked to offer their views of who the best practicing physicians are in the state.”
Until July 31st, nurses can go to www.nurseschoicenj.org and fill out an online survey to vote in the Nurses’ Choice survey. (Nurses are asked for their last name and license number to assure that ONLY licensed nurses in the state participate.) The survey is also available through the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute (www.njhcqi.org) website as well as the website of the New Jersey State Nurses Association (www.njsna.org).
“We believe that the data provided by nurses on the best doctors will provide New Jersey health care consumers with a new and trusted source for the best practicing physicians,” added Andrea Aughenbaugh, President of the New Jersey State Nurses Association. “Quite frankly, we were surprised when we learned that nurses have never been asked for their opinions on this very important health care issue before.”
In 2008, for the seventh straight year, nurses enjoy the top spot from the public in Gallup’s annual “Honesty and Ethics of professions survey.” Eighty-four percent of Americans called nurses’ honesty and ethical standards either “high” or “very high.” In fact, the only year that nurses were not atop the Gallup Poll list was 2001, following September 11th, when firefighters topped the list. Only nurses have shown continuing improvement in their ratings year after year.
