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Health Resources and Services Administration

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National Nurses Week

Delivering Quality and Innovation in Patient Care

Nursing, quality improvement and innovation are practically synonyms. It's often a nurse who improves care for each patient and for every patient, innovating in the clinic or hospital and, ultimately, the health care system.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on National Nurses Week

National Nurses Week, May 6-12 is the time to get ready to help your patients in a whole new way.

When key parts of the Affordable Care Act take effect in 2014, you’ll be able to steer them to a new way to get health insurance: the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Every health insurance plan in the new Marketplace will offer comprehensive coverage, from doctors to medications to hospital visits – and ways to compare insurance options based on price, benefits, quality, and other features, in plain language that makes sense.

Use these resources to turn innovative ideas into processes and best practices that lead to improved patient outcomes:

Nurses Deliver Quality and Innovation in Patient Care. Millions of Americans get affordable health care and other help from nurses supported by Health Resources and Services Administration grants that help defray the costs of caring for underserved, uninsured people. . At Work More than 16,600 nurses work in HRSA-supported health centers, which care for nearly 20 million patients each year – more than half of them at or below the poverty level. • 11,854 RNs and LPNs • 4,187 nurse practitioners • 553 certified nurse midwives. More than 4,300 National Health Service Corps and NURSE Corps nurses providing care now • 1,862 nurse practitioners • 172 certified nurse midwives • 35 psychiatric nurse specialists • 2,064 registered nurses • 175 certified registered nurse anesthetists • 8 clinical nurse specialists • 898 nursing students With scholarships in return for service after graduation • 579 nurse faculty receiving 85 percent loan repayment • 284 universities Offering low-interest nursing student loans to financially needy students • 26 schools of nursing Innovating and improving quality through technology and interprofessional learning models in advanced nursing education. The RN workforce grew by more than 500,000 (24%) and LPN workforce by more than 90,000 (15.5%) in the first decade of this century. 2.8 million RNs and 690,000 LPNs were working or seeking employment in nursing in 2010. Growth in the nursing workforce since 2000 has outpaced growth in the U.S. population. About 55 percent of the RN workforce holds a bachelor’s or higher degree. The number of RNs younger than 30 has increased, but about one-third of the nursing workforce is older than 50. The average age of RNs increased by almost 2 years over the past decade. The proportion of non-white RNs increased from 20 to 25% over the past decade. The U.S. Nursing Workforce: Trends in Supply and Education, HRSA, 2013
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Nursing Resources

HRSA Investments in the Nursing Workforce (PDF - 106 KB)

Scholarship, Loan and Loan Repayment Programs

Loan Repayment Programs for Nurses (PDF - 420 KB)

Scholarship Programs for Nurses (PDF - 120 KB)

Grant Programs for Nurse Training Programs

The U.S. Nursing Workforce: Trends in Supply and Education

The Health Center Program

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Kay Southern, family nurse practitioner and National Health Service Corps member

eLine Military Program at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, HRSA Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention grantee

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