Characteristics of

Registered

Nurses, 1972 and

1977-78

Comparable data on all registered nurses

in the United States were collected in

1972 and again in 1977-78. Changes in

the supply and distribution of nurses and

their demographic and practice

characteristics were examined to

determine what significant trends occurred

between the two inventories. This report

summarizes the results of an analysis of

some of the data.

Data From the National Health

Survey

Series 14, No. 27

DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 83-1822

U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services

Public Health Service

National Center for Health Statistics,

Hyattsville, Md.

December 1982
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

The National Center for Health Statistics has obtained permission

from the American Nurses Association to adapt the material found

in appendix IV of this report. Further reproduction of this material

is prohibited without specific permission of the copyright holders.

All other material contained in the report is in the public domain

and may be used and reprinted without special permission;

citation as to source, however, is appreciated.

SUGGESTED CITATION

National Center for Health Statistics, J. Barbano Characteristics of

Registered Nurses, 1972 and 1977-78. Vital and Health Statistics.

Series 14, No. 27. DHHS Pub. No. (PHS) 83-1822. Public Health

Service. Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, November,

1982.

Library of Congreaa Cataloging in Publication Data

Barbano, Joseph.

Characteristics of registered nurses, 1972 and 1977-78.

(Data from the national health survey. Series 14 ; no. 27)

(DHHS publication ; no (PHS 83-1822)

Supt. of Dots. no.: HE 20.6209:14/27 1. ,Nurses—United

States—Statistics.

1. Graham, Dorothy. Il. Checker, Armand. Ill. Title. IV. Series:

Vital and health statistics. Series 14, Data from the national

health survey; no. 27. V. Series DHHS publication ; no. (PHS)

83-1822. [DNLM: 1. Nurses—Supply and distribution—United

States. 2. Nursing—Trends—United States—Statistics. W2 A

N148vn no. 27]

RT4.B37 226 331.11’9161073’0973 82-600051

ISBN 0-8406-0247-2 AACR2

If’111’ WIIU11.vthe Snperintemlent of Docnments, U.S. Government printing Office. Washington, DC. 2041X!
National Center for Health Statistics

ROBERT A. ISRAEL, Acting Director

JACOB J. FELDMAN, Ph. D., Associate Director for

Analysis and Epidemiology

GAIL F. FISHER, Ph. D., Associate Director for the

Cooperative Health Statistics System

GARRIE J. LOSEE, Associate Director for Data

Processing and Services

ALVAN O. ZARATE, Ph. D., Assistant Director for

International Statistics

E. EARL BRYANT, Associate Director for Interview

and Examination Statistics

ROBERT L. QUAVE, Acting Associate Director for

Management

MONROE G. SIRKEN, Ph.D., Associate Director for

Research and Methodology

PETER L. HURLEY, Associate Director for Vital and

Health Care Statistics

ALICE HAYWOOD, Information Oficer

Vital and Health Care Statistics Program

PETER L, HURLEY, Associate Director

GLORIA KAPANTAIS, Assistant to the Director for

Data Policy, Planning, and Analysis

Division of Health Care Statistics

W. EDWARD BACON, Ph. D., Director

JOAN F. VAN NOSTRAND, Deputy Director

JOSEPH BARBANO, ChieJ Health Professions

Statistics Branch
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................... ............

Rndings ............................................................................................................................................................................................

Activity status ...........................................................................................................................................................................

Age ........................................................................................................................................................................... .................

Educational preparation ..........................................................................................................................................................

Sex .,0, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........... .................................. ..................

Ethnicity .......................................................................................................................................................................... ..........

Site of basic nursing education ...............................................................................................................................................

Employment status and sex ....................................................................................................................................................

Employment status and age ....................................................................................................................................................

Area of clinical practice and employment setting ..................................................................................................................

Type of nursing position and employment setiing .................................................................................................................

References .......................................................................................................................................................... .............................

List of detailed tables ...................................................................................................................................................... ............... .

Appendixes

L Definitions of certain terms used in this report ......................................................................................................................

IL Data collection and processing ...............................................................................................................................................

Ill. Data collected for the 1977-78 Inventory of Registered Nurses .........................................................................................

IV. Limitation of data ......................................................................................................................................................................

1

2

2

2

2

3

3

3

3

3

4

4

5

6

21

22

24

26

iii
Symbols used in tables

. . . Data not available

. . . Category not applicable

Quantity zero

0.0 Quantity more than zero but less than

0.05

z Quantity more than zero but less than

500 where numbers are rounded to

thousands

●

Figure does not meet standards of

reliability or precision (more than

30 percent relative standard error)

# Figure suppressed to comply with

confidentiality requirements
Characteristics of

Registered Nurses, 1972

and 1977-78

by Joseph Barbano, Dorothy Graham, and Armand

Checker,~ Division of Health Care Statistics

Introduction

In September 1976, the National Center for Health

Statistics contracted with the American Nurses Association to provide the Center with a data tape

containing information collected during the 1977–78

Inventory of Registered Nurses on all registered nurses

in the United States. This report compares data from

the 1972 inventory] (also conducted by the American

Nurses Association) with data from the 1977-78

inventory. (Descriptive data on registered nurses in

1980 are available in a Bureau of Health Professions

report,z and data on changes in the registered nurse

population between 1977 and 1980 are available in

another Bureau of Health Professions publications)

Duplicate records from the data tape, a result of nurses

being licensed in more than one State, were deleted;

active nurses were placed in their principal State of

employment, and inactive nurses were placed in their

State of residence.4

The information in the 1977–78 Inventory of

Registered Nurses was collected using self-administered questionnaires mailed directly to all licensed

nurses. The questionnaire mailing was conducted

through two separate but parallel mechanisms. The

first was the Cooperative Health Statistics System.5

States with the System’s Manpower Component contract collected data on registered nurses and submitted

a specified set of data elements (the minimum data set)

to the American Nurses Association and the National

Center for Health Statistics. The Center had an

individual contract with each State in the Cooperative

Health Statistics System, usually with the State health

department. All contractors in the System developed

their own questionnaires for distribution in their

●Currently with the Division of Biometry, National Institute of Mental

Health,

States. Questionnaires were required to include all

minimum data set items specified by the Center and

often contained the wording and format suggested by

the Center. The second mechanism used a single

source, the American Nurses Association, to collect

the same minimum data set items in all States that did

not collect data through the Cooperative Health

Statistics System.

Similar methodologies were utilized by both the

Cooperative Health Statistics System State contractors

and the American Nurses Association to ensure

uniformity of the data so that statistics from both

groups of States could be merged into a national data

file. In every State, either the Cooperative Health

Statistics System State agency or the American Nurses

Association collaborated with the State licensing board

to ensure that questionnaires were sent to all licensed

nurses. In many States the questionnaires were attached to license renewal applications mailed by State

licensing boards. The questionnaires were returned

either to the American Nurses Association or the

Cooperative Health Statistics System State contractor

for editing, coding, and keytaping.

Data collection for the 1977-78 inventory ranged

from late 1976 to early 1979. Questions in the

minimum data set were modeled after those in the

1972 inventory; consequently, 1977–78 inventory data

were directly comparable to the 1972 data. Data that

were not comparable were not included in this report.

Because the American Nurses Association was responsible either for all data processing such as editing for

consistency among data elements or removing duplicate records for both inventories, biases from such

factors should be minimal.

Readers should note that rates (including percents)

used in this report were calculated based on original,

unrounded figures and may not agree with rates

calculated from rounded data. In addition, missing

data were excluded from the calculation of percents.

1
Findings

Activity status

Between the 1972 and 1977–78 inventories, the

estimated number of nurses employed in the profession

increased about 29 percent (table 1).During this period

233,000 nurses entered the profession and became

actively engaged in nursing activities. This percent

increase is approximately the same as the increase for

the previous 6 years, which was 25 percent.

Except for Alaska, which showed no increase in

the supply of nurses, Wyoming, South Dakota, and

New Jersey showed the smallest percent changes (4,

11, and 11 percent, respectively) in the ratio of active

nurses per 100,000 population. Arkansas, New Mexico, Indiana, Missouri, and Tennessee had the largest

percent increases, all between 41 and 48 percent (table

2). Summarizing the data by region showed that the

smallest percent increases occurred in the New England and Middle Atlantic States, where increases of 11

and 16 percent were recorded. The largest

increases—between 31 and 34 percent-occurred in

the North Central and East South Central States (table

3).

In both survey years, the ratio of nurses to

population varied considerably among the States and

regions. In 1972 the range (the difference between the

lowest and highest value) among States was 459

compared with 514 for 1977–78; the standard deviations were 107 and 132b(table 4). The higher values of

the range and standard deviation in 1977-78 indicate

more variability among States in the 1977–78 nurse

population ratios than in the 1972 ratios. However, if

the standard deviations are adjusted for mean values,

the coefficient of variations are equal.

In both survey years the majority (about 7 out of

10) of licensed nurses were employed in the profession,

A significant proportion, 30 of every 100 nurses, were

inactive in nursing in 1972 compared with about 25

per 100 in 1977–78 (table 1). The median age of

hhe District of Columbia was excluded from these calculations because it

may be atypical due to the large number of nurses working for the Federal

Government in a nonclinical capacity,

inactive nurses increased significantly during the interval—from 42 years of age in 1972 to 45 in 1977-78,

Although the number of active nurses increased

greatly between the surveys, a small increase (4

percent) also was registered for nurses not employed in

nursing. Unfortunately, no information exists in the

1972 survey that indicates the availability “of the

inactive nurses for future employment in the profession. However, the 1977-78 survey identified a small

number of nurses (slightly more than 20,000, or about

1 percent of all licensed nurses) who were not

employed but were seeking work as registered nurses,

Age

The median age of nurses employed in the profession decreased from 39 to 37 years between 1972 and

1977–78 (table 5). Nationwide, the group of younger

nurses (under 35 years of age) increased 43 percent

between 1972 and 1977-78.”

Educational preparation

Distribution of the highest educational level of

registered nurses shifted substantially between the two

inventories. In the 6 years between the two surveys, the

proportion of nurses who graduated from 3-year

diploma programs decreased from 76 to 61 percent. To

complement this decrease, the proportion of nurses

graduating from associate and baccalaureate degree

programs increased. The shift to nurses graduating

from associate degree programs has been large—from

5 percent of the active nurses in 1972 to 15 percent in

1977–78. The proportion of baccalaureate degree

holders also increased, from 15 percent in 1972 to 20

percent in 1977-78 (table 6).

The shift in emphasis to the 2- and 4-year

educational programs from the 3-year diploma procUsing adjusted counts based on distributions with known data.

2
gram has been progressing for many years. The

number of State-approved diploma programs decreased from 497 in 1971-72 to 293 on January 1,

1981, Similarly, the number of accredited baccalaureate programs increased from 213 in 1971–72 to 311 on

January 1, 1981. The number of students also has been

shifting. In 1979–80 only 17,000 students were admitted to diploma programs, compared with 30,000 in

1972-73. The number of students admitted to associate

degree programs increased from 44,000 to 54,000. A

smaller but significant increase in the number of

students in baccalaureate programs also occurred—in

1972-73, there were 30,000 compared with 36,000 in

1979-80 (table 7).6

The pattern of proportionately more degree holders in 1977 was apparent in all of the 5-year age

groups, However, the difference between the 1972 and

1977-78 results was widest among younger nurses, For

example, in 1977-78, baccalaureate or postbaccalaureate degrees were held by 27 percent of the nurses

under 25 years of age and by 12 percent of the nurses

65 years of age or older. In 1972, baccalaureate or

postbaccalaureate degrees were held by 17 percent of

the nurses under 25 years of age and by 11 percent of

those 65 years of age and over (tables 8 and 9).

Sex

Between 1972 and 1977-78 the number of employed male nurses increased from about 11,000 to

23,j00,c Despite this large increase, male nurses still

represented only 3 percent of all employed registered

nurses in 1977-78 (table 10). The distribution of male

nurses by type of positions reveals some changes

between the two surveys. The number of male nurses

working as staff or general duty nurses increased

greatly, rising from 3,500 in 1972 to about 10,200 in

1977-78,c Although the number of males having a

position of supervisor or assistant supervisor increased

between the two surveys, supervisors accounted for

only 11 percent of the men employed in nursing,

compared with 17 percent in 1972. A similar decrease

took place among the administrators; 6 percent of the

male nurses in 1977-78 were administrators, compared

with 9 percent in 1972 (table 11).

In 1972, the distribution of male nurses by type of

position differed substantially from that of females.

For example, 58 of every 100 female nurses were

employed as general duty nurses compared with only

33 of every 100 male nurses. Eleven percent of female

nurses were supervisors compared with 17 percent of

the males, By 1977-78 (with the exception of the

category “other’’),, these differences decrease~ the only

significant differences appeared in the percent of male

and female nurses working in a staff capacity and as

administrators (table 12).

‘Using adjusted counts based on distributions with known data.

Ethnicity

Conclusions about the racial or ethnic background

of registered nurses in the 1977-78 inventory must be

drawn with extreme caution because of the large

amount of missing data for this item. Racial or ethnic

background was missing for 41 percent of the nurses

(table 13). Many States did not collect these data; in

other States, the data could not be used because their

coding categories did not conform to American Nurses

Association categories.

Of those answering the question on ethnicity, the

largest minority group was black persons, who composed 4 percent of all registered nurses in the United

States, a considerably smaller proportion than the

percent of black persons in the U.S. population.

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, on the

other hand, Asian Americans constituted 1.5 percent

of the U.S. population in 1978. Nurses of Asian

ethnicity, however, composed 3 percent of the licensed

nurses.

Site of basic nursing education

Information concerning nurses who earned their

nursing credentials outside the United States was not

available in the 1972 inventory. However, the data

were deemed of sufficient interest to be included in the

1977-78 inventory.

U.S. nursing schools provided basic education to

96 percent of the nurses in the 1977-78 inventory.

Among nurses not trained in the United States, 30

percent emigrated from the Philippines and 15 percent

from the United Kingdom. Most of the others were

from Asia (tables 14 and 15).

Slightly fewer than 3 out of 4 nurses trained in the

United States were employed in nursing at the time of

the 1977-78 inventory, compared with 94 and 97

percent for those nurses trained in the Philippines and

India, respectively (table 16).

Employment status and sex

The shift between 1972 and 1977–78 toward a

larger proportion of licensed nurses employed full time

in nursing was characteristic of both male and female

nurses in the inventory. During the 1977–78 inventory,

80 percent of the licensed male nurses indicated that

they were employed full time in nursing, up from 76

percent in the 1972 inventory. About 52 percent of the

females in the 1977-78 inventory were employed full

time, compared with the 47 percent reported in the

1972 inventory (tables 17-20).

Employment status and age

Examination of activity rates for nurses among the

5-year age intervals disclosed that in each of the age

3
intervals under 50 years, a larger proportion of nurses

were employed in nursing full time in 1977-78 than in

1972. The reverse pattern was observed in the 5-year

age intervals for nurses 50 years of age and over. The

increase of nurses under 35 years of age that occurred

between 1972 and 1977-78 was cited previously.

Activity rates obviously were affected by the age shift;

however, whether the increase in labor force rates

could be attributed to the increase in young persons

becoming nurses, to immigration, or to some other

factor cannot be determined from the 1977-78 inventory data.

For nurses employed part time on a regular basis, a

pattern different from that for nurses employed full

time was observed, For each group under 50-54 years

of age there were proportionately slightly fewer parttime nurses in 1977–78 than there were in 1972. For

the remaining age groups, virtually the same proportion in the two inventories were employed part time

on a regular basis (tables21 and 22).

Area of clinical practice and

employment setting

A small but noticeable change in employment in

hospitals and nursing homes was found for nurses who

specified geriatrics as their primary area of clinical

practice. In 1972, 18 percent worked in hospitals,

compared with 12 percent in 1977–78. A complementary increase took place in the percent of the geriatric

nurses working in nursing homes. In 1972, 71 percent

worked in nursing homes compared with 77 percent in

1977-78 (tables 23 and 24).

Settings for nurses working in the area of pediatrics, including maternal and child health, changed

considerably between the inventories. The proportion

of pediatric nurses working in public health declined

from 11 percent to 4 percent between the 1972

inventory and the 1977–78 inventory. Another setting

where relatively large changes occurred among pediatric nurses was the hospital. The proportion of pediatric

nurses employed in hospitals increased from 61 percent in 1972 to 70 percent in 1977-78. An opposite

shift occurred among pediatric nurses employed in

schools: in 1972, employment as school nurses accounted for 11 percent of pediatric nurses; in 1977–78

the comparable figure was 8 percent.

The 1977-78 inventory data revealed some

changes since the 1972 inventory for employment of

nurses in the clinical practicearea of psychiatry and

mental health. The proportion of nurses working in

hospitals who indicated psychiatry or mental health as

their area of clinical practice decreased from about 82

percent in the 1972 inventory to about 71 percent in

the 1977-78 inventory. A change in the opposite

direction was reported for such nurses employed in

nursing homes; representation in nursing homes increased from 1 percent of all employed nurses in 1972

to 3 percent in 1977-78. Another employment setting

in which a proportional change in employment occurred was public health. The nurses designating

psychiatry or mental health as their clinical practice

area and who worked in public health settings increased by six percentage points. In the 1972 inventory, 5 percent of those nurses indicated public health as

their setting; in the 1977-78 inventory, 11 percent did.

Type of nursing position and

employment setting

The distributions of nurses by employment setting

in the 1972 and 1977-78 inventories were almost the

same except for those nurses indicating private duty

and “other specified field” as their setting. The number

of private-duty nurses decreased by about one-third

between the two inventories, from about 39,000 to

26,500; the proportion of nurses in private duty

decreased, from 5 percent in 1972 to 3 percent in

1977-78.

Among nurses in supervisory or assistant supervisory positions, hospitals were reported proportionately less and nursing homes proportionately more as the

employment setting in 1977–78 compared with 1972.

Hospitals were the most frequent employment setting

among nurses who were supervisors or assistant

supervisors—68 percent in 1972 compared with 62

percent in 1977-78.

As expected, schools of nursing were listed most

often as the employment setting by instructors. In

1972, 7 of 10 instructors listed this setting compared

with 6 of 10 in 1977–78. A small, but perhaps

significant, change occurred in the frequency with

which nursing homes were listed as the employment

setting for instructors. In 1972 only 2 percent of the

instructors listed nursing homes as their employment

setting compared with 4 percent in 1977–78. However,

the number of these instructors increased from 652 in

1972 to 1,648 in 1977-78C (tables 25 and 26),

“Using adjusted counts based on distributions with known data.
References

lAmerican Nur~e~A~~o~iation,A, V, Roth and A. R. Walden: The

Nation’s Nurses, 1972 Inventory of Registered Nurses. Kansas City,

Mo. American Nurses Association Statistics Department, ANA,

1974.

ZBureau of Health professions, Division of Health prOf(3SiOIM

Analysis: The Registered Nurse Population, An Overview jiom

National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, November 1980.

Report No, 82-5, Hyattsville, Md. 1982.

~Bureau of Health professions, Division of Health professions

Analysis, Eugene Levine and Evelyn B. Moses: A Statistical Projile

of Registered Nurses in the United States 1977-1980. Report No.

82–3. Hyattsville, Md. 1982.

4American Nurses Association, Duane C. Schulte: Inventory of

Registered Nurses, 1977-78. Kansas City, Mo. American Nurses

Association, 1981.

‘National Center for Health Statistics: The Cooperative Health

Statistics System, its mission and program. Vital and Health

Statistics. Series 4, No. 19. DHEW Pub. No. (HRA) 77-1456.

Health Resources Administration, Washington. U.S. Government

Printing Office, Apr. 1977.

GNational League for Nursing: State Approved Schools of

Nursing—R.N. Pub. No. J9-1853, 1981 and previous years.
List of detailed tables

1. Number of registered nurses, by employment status and year

of inventory, and percent increase between 1972 and

1977-78, by employment status United States, 1972 and

1977.78 ...........................................................................................

2. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing per 100,000

population, by State and year of inventoty, and percent

increase beween 1972 and 1977-78, by State United States,

1972 and 1977-78 ..........................................................................

3. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing per 100,000

population, by region and year of invento~, and percent

increase between 1972 and 1977-78, by region: United States,

1972 and 1977-78 ..........................................................................

4. Variability of ratios of State-employed registered nurses to the

population, by year of inventory United States, 1972 and

1977.78 ...........................................................................................

5. Number and percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing by age, according to year of inventory, and

median age by year of inventory? United States, 1972 and

1977-78 ...........................................................................................

6. Number and percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing by highest educational preparation, according to year of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78 .........

7. Number and percent distribution of nursing student admissions

by type of program, according to academic yeac United States,

1972-73 and 1979+0 ....................................................................

8. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing, by age,

highest educational preparation, and year of inventory United

States, 1972 and 1977-78 .............................................................

9. Percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing

by highest educational preparation, according to age and year

of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78 ...........................

10. Number and percent distribution of registered nurses emdoved in nursing by sex according to year of inventow United

7

7

8

8

8

8

8

9

9

States, 1972 an; 1977-78 ............~.....~........................................ 10

11. Number and percent distribution of male registered nurses

employed in nursing by type of position, according to year of

inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78 ................................ 10

12. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing and percent

distribution by type of position, according to year of inventory

and sex United States, 1972 and 1977-78 .................................. 10

13. Number and percent distribution of registered nurses by race

or Hispanic origin: United States, 1977-78 .................................. 10

14. Number of registered nurses, by site of basic nursing education and employment status United States, 1977-78 ................. 11

15. Percent distribution of all registered nurses and those employed in nursing by site of basic nursing education: United

States, 1977-78 .............................................................................. 12

16. Percent distribution of registered nurses by employment

status, according to site of basic nursing education: United

States, 1977-78 .............................................................................. 12

17. Number of male registered nurses, by age, employment statu%

and year of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-76 ........... 13

18. Percent distribution of male registered nurses by employment

status, according to age and year of inventory United States,

1972 and 1977-78 .......................................................................... 13

19. Number of female registered nurses, by age, employment

status, and year of inventow United States, 1972 and 1977-78 14

20. Percent distribution of female registered nurses by employment status, according to age and year of inventory United

States, 1972 and 1977-78 ............................................................. 14

21. Number of registered nurses, by age, employment status, and

year of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78 ................... 15

22. Percent distribution of registered nurses by employment

status, according to age and year of inventory United States,

1972 and 1977-78 .....................................................................C..C.15

23. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing, by area of

clinical practice, employment setting, and year of inventory

United States, 1972 and 1977-78 ................................................. 16

24. Percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing

by employment setting, according to area of clinical practice

and year of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78 ........... 17

25. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing, by type of

position, employment setting, and year of inventory United

States, 1972 and 1977-78 ............................................................. 18

26. Percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing

by employment setting, according to type of position and year

of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78 ........................... 19

6
Table 1. Number of registered nurses, by employment status and year

of inventory, and percent increase behveen 1972 and 1977-78, by

employment status United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Year of inventory

Employment status

Percent

1972 1977-78 increase

Number

AII registered nurses ............... 1,127,657 1,375,208 22.0

Original counk

Employed in nursing ........... 778,470 958,308 23.1

Not employed in nursing,.. 316,611 323,483 2.2

Not reported ......................... 32,576 93,417 186.8

Estimated count

Employed in nursing ........... 1794,979 11,028,003 29.3

Not employed in nursing ... 1332,678 1347,205 4.4

Nursas employed per

100,000 population ................ 1380 1472 24.2

1Adjusted for nonresponse to questions on employment status and county of

employment.

Table 2. Number of registered nurses empioyed in nursing per 100,000

population, by State and year of inventory, and percent increase

between 1972 and 1977-78, by State United States, 1972 and

1977-78

Year of

State inventory Percent

increase

1972 1977-78

United States .........................

Alaska ......................................

Wyoming ..................................

South Dakota .........................

New Jersey .............................

Montana ..................................

West Virginia ..........................

Vermont ...................................

Connecticut .............................

New York ................................

Hawaii ......................................

Delaware .................................

Pennsylvania ...........................

South Carolina .......................

Colorado ..................................

Louisiana .................................

Utah .........................................

Massachusetts ........................

Virginia .....................................

Mississippi ...............................

Wisconsin ................................

California .................................

Idaho ........................................

Maine .......................................

Kansas .....................................

North Dakota ..........................

Oklahoma ................................

Nebraska .................................

Ohio .........................................

Iowa .........................................

Texas .......................................

Maryland ..................................

Illinois .......................................

Kentucky ..................................

Washington .............................

Alabama ..................................

Nevada ....................................

District of Columbia ..............

Oregon .....................................

Minnesota ................................

Florida ......................................

North Carolina ........................

Michigan ..................................

Rhode Island ..........................

New Hampshire .....................

Georgia ....................................

Arizona .....................................

Arkansas .................................

New Mexico ............................

Indiana .....................................

Missouri ...................................

Tennessee ..............................

Number per

100,000

.r20Dulationl .

380

422

425

462

432

451

350

612

579

485

380

514

519

295

491

245

285

649

348

226

416

334

329

464

400

455

246

443

369

413

240

363

397

256

420

223

323

673

399

486

353

318

335

485

572

263

428

190

258

312

233

472

422

440

513

480

510

398

698

662

561

440

602

611

348

583

291

340

776

420

273

505

407

404

574

506

577

312

562

494

530

309

471

515

333

547

291

422

885

532

652

475

429

454

661

782

361

590

268

368

429

449

344

24.2

1::

11.1

13.1

13.7

14.0

14.3

15.7

15.8

17.1

17.7

17.9

18.7

18.6

19.3

19.8

20.7

20.8

21.4

21.8

22.8

23.7

26.5

26.8

26.8

26.9

26.9

28.3

28.8

29.7

29.8

30.1

30.2

30.5

30.6

31.5

33.3

34.2

34.6

34.9

35.5

36.3

36.8

37.3

37.8

41.0

42.6

43.9

43.9

47.6

1Adjusted for nonresponse to questions on employment status and county of

employment.
Table 3. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing per 100,000

population, by region and year of inventory, and percent increase

between 1972 and 1977-78, by region: United States, 1972 and

1977-78

Year of

Region inventory Percent

1972

increase

1977-78

Number per

100,000

popuiationl

United States ......................... 380 472 24.2

New England .......................... 596 664 11.4

Middle Atlantic ....................... 485 561 15.7

Pacific ...................................... 352 438 23.9

Mountain .................................. 393 492 25.2

West South Central .............. 237 302 27.4

South Atlantic ......................... 340 438 28.8

East North Central ................ 370 483 30.5

West North Central ............... 406 536 32.0

East South Central ............... 235 315 34.0

IAdjusted for nonresponse to questions on employment status and county of

employment.

Table 4. Variability of ratios of State-employed registered nurses to the

Population, by year of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Year of inventory

Measure of variability

1972 1977-78

Range ....................................................... 459 514

Standard deviation ................................. 107 132

Coefficient of variation .......................... .28 ,28

I Excludes the Oistrict of Columbia.

Table 6. Number and percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing by highest educational preparation, according to

year of inventory: United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Highest educational Year of inventory

preparation 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

Percent

Number distribution

Total ....................................... 778,470 958,308 100.0 100.0

Less than baccalaureate .... 1626,857 722,861 182.0 75.8

Diploma ............................. 580,846 579,444 76,0 60.7

Associate degree ............ 41,095 143,417 5.4 15.0

Baccalaureate in nursing ... 94,287 158,086 12.3 16.6

Baccalaureate in other

field ...................................... 17,188 31,262 2.2 3.3

Master’s in nursing ............. 17,260 26,608 2.3 2.8

Master’s in other field ........ 7,625 13,162 1.0

Doctorate ............................... 1,106 1,846 0.1 :::

Not reported ......................... 14,147 4,483 . . . . . .

1Includes basic nursing education not reported.

Table 7. Number and percent distribution of nursina student admissions

by type of program, according to academic ~eac United States,

1972-73 and 1979-80

Academic year

Type of program

1972-73 1979-80 1972-73 1978-80

Percent

Number distribution

All programs ................... 104,713 107,368 100.0 100.0

Diploma ........................... 29,848 16,905 28.5 15.7

Associate degree ........... 44,387 54,428 42.4 50.7

Baccalaureate ................. 30,478 36,035 29.1 33.6

Source National League for Nursing State Approved Schoo/s of Nursing - R.N.

Table 5. Number and percent distribution of registered nurses

Pub. No. 19-1853, 1981 and previous years.

employed in nursing by age, according to year of inventory, and

median age by year of inventory: United State8, 1972 and 1977-78

Year of inventory

Age

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

Percent

Number distribution

All ages ......................... 778,470 958,308 100.0 100.0

Under 35 years............ 288,103 412,079 38.7 44.0

35-44 years.................. 167,454 220,456 22.5 23.6

45-54 years.................. 165,139 182,798 22.2 19.5

55-64 years .................. 98,313 100,254 13.2 10.7

65 years and over ...... 25,248 20,365 3.4 2.2

Not reported ................. 34,213 22,346 . . . . . .

Median age., ................. 39.4 36.9 S.S ..s
Table 8, Number of registered nurses employed in nursing, by age, highest educational preparation, and year of inventory: United States,

1972and 1977-78

Highest educational preparation andyearof inventory

Age Total Less than Baccalaureate Master’s Not

baccalaureate and above reported

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All ages .................................... 778,470 958,308 626,857 722,861 111,475 189,348 25,991 41,616 14,147 4,483

Under 25 years ....................... 66,991 92,791 55,637 67,778 10,977 24,628 145 222 232 163

25-29 years ............................. 126,869 177,311 98,045 117,961 26,140 54,501 2,164 4,395 ’520 454

30-34 years.,,...,,,.., ................. 94,243 141,977 74,699 103,547 15,743 30,866 3,122 7,055 679 509

35-39 years ............................. 84,937 115,850 68,032 88,191 12,662 20,660 3,351 6,535 892 464

40-44 years..,,,,., ..................... 62,517 104,606 67,391 80,976 10,672 17,166 3,389 5,985 1,065 477

45-49 years ............................. 91,609 92,654 75,449 73,938 10,850 13,137 3,960 5,110 1,350 469

50-54 years ............................. 73,530 90,144 59,619 73,468 8,891 11,254 3,692 4,931 1,328 491

55-59 years ............................. 54,900 63,902 45,121 52,119 5,806 7,594 2,635 3,795 1,338 394

60-64 years ............................. 43,413 36,362 36,511 30,449 3,610 3,644 1,639 1,950 1,653 319

65 years and over ................. 25,248 20,365 20,304 17,656 1,757 1,567 823 739 2,364 403

Not reported ............................ 34,213 22,346 26,049 16,778 4,367 4,329 1,071 899 2,726 340

Table 9. Percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing by highest educational preparation, according to age and year of

inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Highest educational preparation andyearof inventory

Age Total Less than

baccalaureate Baccalaureate Master’s

and above

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All ages .......................................... 100.0 100.0 82.0 75.8 14.6 19.9 3.4 4.4

Urlder25 years ............................. 100.0 100.0 83.3 73.2 16.4 26.6 0.2 0.2

25-29 years., ................................. 100.0 100.0 77.6 66.7 20.7 30.8 1.7 2.5

30-34 years ................................... 100.0 100.0 79.8 73.2 16.8 21.8 3.3 5.0

35-39 years ,.,,,,,,.,,,.,..!.................. 100.0 100!0 80.9 76.4 15.1 17.9 4.0 5.7

40-44 years ................................... 100.0 100.0 82.7 77.8 13.1 16.5 4.2 5.7

45-49 years ................................... 100.0 100.0 83.6 80.2 12.0 14.3 4.4 5.5

50-54 years ................................... 100.0 100.0 62.6 81.9 12.3 12.6 5.1 5.5

55-59 years., ................................. 100.0 100.0 84.2 82.1 10.8 12.0 4.9 6.0

60-64 years ................................... 100.0 100.0 87.4 84.5 6.6 10.1 3.9 5.4

65 years and over ....................... 100.0 100.0 88.7 88.4 7.7 7.8 3.6 3.7
Table 10. Number and percent distribution of registered nurses

employed in nursing by sex, according to year of inventory United

States, 1972 and 1977-78

Table 12. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing and

percent distribution by type of position, according to year of

inventory and sex: United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Year of inventory

Sex

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

Percent

Number distribution

Both sexes . . . . .. . . . .. . . 778,470 958,308 100.0 100.0

Female .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . 766,416 907,928 98.6 97.6

Male . .. . . . .. . . . . .. .. .. 10,969 22,855 1.4 2.4

Not reported ........... 1,065 27,525 . . . . . .

Table 11. Number and percent distribution of male registered nurses

employed in nursing by type of position, according to year of

inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-76

Year of inventow

Type of position

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

Percent

Number distribution

All nursing positions .............. 10,989 22,855 100.0 100.0

Administrator or assistant ..... 897 1,374 8.6 6.1

Consultant ................................ 125 180 1.2 0.8

Supervisor or assistant.......... 1,733 2,543 16.5 11.3

Instructor .................................. 460 735 3.3

Head nurse or assistant ....... 1,657 2,969 I&? 13.2

Staff or general duty ............. 3,461 10,148 33.0 45.2

Other+....................................... 2,135 4,527 20.4 20.1

Not reported ............................ 501 379 . . . . . .

! Includeenursepractitionersand clinicalspecialistsfor 1977-78 and additional

categoriesfor both 1972 and 1977-78. Clinicalspecialistsin 1972 were codad

as consultants.

Year of inventory

.

Type of position 1972 1977-78

Male Female Male Female

All nursing positional ..............

Total ...........................................

Administrator or assistant ......

Consultant .................................

Supervisor or assistant ...........

Instructor ...................................

Head nurse or aasistant ........

Staff or general duty ..............

Otherz ........................................

Number

10,468 746,972 22,476 919,267

Percent distribution

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

8.6 3.9 6.1 3.6

1.2 0.9 0.6

16.5 10.6 1::: 9.7

4.6 4.3 3.3

15.8 15.6 13.2 1:::

33.0 57.5 45.2 58.0

20.4 7.1 20.1 9.0

1Excludesnursesfor whom sex is unknownor type of positionis not reported.

ZIncludesnurse practitionersand clinicalspecialistsfor 1977-78 and additional

categories for both 1972 and 1977-78. Clinical specialists in 1972 were coded

as consultants.

Table 13. Number and percent distribution of registered nurses by

race or Hispanic origin: United States, 1977-78

Race or Hispanic origin Number Percent

distribution

All races and ethnic origins ........... 1,375,208 100.0

White ................................................... 741,863 91.0

Black ................................................... 32,712 4.0

Asian or Pacific Islander................. 25,567 3.1

Hispanic origin .................................. 8,702 1.1

American Indian or Alaskan

Native ............................................... 2,283 0.3

Other ................................................... 4,137 0.5

Not reported ...................................... 559,944 . . .
Table 14. Number of registered nurses, by site of basic nursing education and employment status United States, 1977-78

Employment status

Site of All

basic nursing education Employed Not

registered employed Not

nurses

in nursing in nursing reported

All sites ................................................................................................................

North America .....................................................................................................

United Statesl .................................................................................................

Canada .............................................................................................................

Jamaica ............................................................................................................

Other ................................................................................................................

North America, country not indicated ........................................................

Australia and East Indies .................................................................................

Philippines ........................................................................................................

Other ,,,,,,,,,s......................................................................................................

Australia and East Indies, country not indicated .....................................

Europe ..................................................................................................................

United Kingdom ......................,..,..,,0,...,..........................................................

Other ................................................................................................................

Europe, country not indicated .....................................................................

Asia and Pacific Islands ,,,,,,,,!0,,,.,!.,!.,.,,,,,,!.,,,,,...!...........................................

Korea ................................................................................................................

lndia ..................................................................................................................

Thailand ...........................................................................................................

Other ................................................................................................................

Asia and Pacific Islands, country not indicated .......................................

Africa .....................................................................................................................

All known countries .......................................................................................

Country not indicated ....................................................................................

South America and Antarctica .........................................................................

Guyana .............................................................................................................

Other ................................................................................................................

South America, country not indicated ........................................................

Other foreign country not indicated ................................................................

Not repoded ........................................................................................................

1,375,208 958,308 323,483 93,417

1,133,788 830,616 280,864 22,308

1,119,631 619,954 277,757 21,920

10,315 7,149 2,884 282

1,477 1,364 79 34

2,245 2,037 140 88

120 112 4 4

16,095 14,752 1,009 334

15,587 14,324 919 324

517 419 68 10

11 9 2

11,505 9,452 1,723 330

7,956 6,747 997 212

3,526 2,689 721 116

23 16 5 2

7,253 6,333 789 131

2,368 2,040 272 56

1,695 1,622 58 15

1,382 1,261 101 20

1,793 1,395 356 40

15 15

496 435 51 12

441 385 47 9

57 50 4 3

1,412 1,274 105 33

698 656 32 10

639 550 67 22

75 88 6 t!

888 683 180 25

203,769 94,763 38,762 70,244

1Includesoutlyingareas of the UnitedStates,

11
Table 15. Percent distribution of all registered nurses and those

employed in nursing by site of basic nursing education: United

States, 1977-78

Table 16. Percent distribution of registered nurses by employment

status, according to site of basic nursing education: United States,

1977-78

Site of basic

nursing education

All Employed registered

nurses

in nursing

AH sites ..............................................

North America ...................................

United Statesl ...............................

Canada ...........................................

Jamaica ..........................................

Other ..............................................

North America, country not

indicated .......................................

Australia and East Indies ...............

Philippines......................................

Other ..............................................

Australia and East Indies,

country not indicated ................

Europe ................................................

United Kingdom ............................

Other ..............................................

Europe, country not indicated ...

Asia and Pacific islands .................

Korea ..............................................

India ................................................

Thailand .........................................

Other ..............................................

Asia and Pacific Islands,

country not indicated ................

Africa...................................................

All known countries .....................

Country not indicated ..................

South America and Antarctica .......

Guyana...........................................

Other ..............................................

South America, country not

indicated...,...................................

Other foreign country not

indicated ...........................................

100.0

96.8

95.6

0.9

0.1

0.2

0.0

1.4

1.3

0.0

0.0

1.0

0.7

0.3

0.0

0.6

0.2

0.1

0.1

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.0

0.1

100.0

96.2

95.0

0.9

0.2

0.2

0.0

1.7

1.7

0.0

0.0

1.1

0.8

0.3

0.0

0.7

0.2

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.0

0.1

t Includesoutlyingareasof theUnitedStates.

Employment status

Site of basic All Not

nursing education registered Employed

in nursing employed

nurses in nursing

All sites ..................................

North America .......................

United Statesl ...................

Canada ...............................

Jamaica ..............................

Other ..................................

North America, countty

not indicated ...................

Australia and East Indies ...

Philippines ..........................

Other ..................................

Australia and East

Indies, country not

indicated ...........................

Europe ....................................

United Kingdom ................

Other ..................................

Europe, country not

indicated ...........................

Asia and Pacific Islands .....

Korea ..................................

India ....................................

Thailand .............................

Other ..................................

Asia and Pacific Islands,

country not indicated ....

Africa .......................................

All known countries .........

Country not indicated ......

South America and

Antarctica .............................

Guyana ...............................

Other ..................................

South America, country

not indicated ...................

Other foreign country

not indicated .......................

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

74.8

74.7

74.7

71.3

94.5

93.6

96.6

93.6

94.0

82.6

81.8

64.6

87.1

78.9

76.2

88.9

88.2

96.5

92.6

79.6

100.0

89.5

89.1

92.6

92.4

95.3

89.1

91.9

79.1

25.2

25.3

25.3

28.7

5.5

6.4

3.4

6.4

6.0

17.4

18.2

15.4

12.9

21.1

23.8

11.1

11.8

3.5

7.4

20.4

10,5

10.9

7.4

7.6

4.7

10.9

8.1

100.0 20.9

I Includesoutlyingareasof theUnitedStates.

12
Table 17. Number of male registered nurses, by age, employment status, and year of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977=78

Employment status and year of inventow

All male Employed Employed

Age

Employed

registered part time, Not employed

full time part time, Not reported

nursesl regular irregular in nursing

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 197P 1977-785

All ages ........................ 14,625 27,301 8,935 20,743 626 1,187 413 842 1,793 3,300 2,858 1,229

Under 25 years........... 657 1,828 525 1,490 44 83 20 86 23 113 45 54

25-29 years................. 2,076 6,727 1,560 5,511 118 315 64 214 167 511 167

30-34 years,................ 2,144 6,031

176

1,575 4,960 123 228 156 191 524 189 163

35-39 years................. 1,679 3,462 1,222 2,773 67 170 z 79 164 352 160 86

40-44 years.,..,............ 1,465 2,345 1,064 1,800 69 125 33 62 173 301 126 57

45-49 years ................. 1,206 1,934 853 1,501 61 73 39 54 147 259

50-54 years,...,..,......... 1,013 1,360 711

106 47

1,039 36 60 21 47 165 204

55-59 years................. 908

80 30

1,084 578 716 33 29 217 252 61 40

60-64 years,,,,,............ 557 761 313 399 20 z ;: 36 161 273 34 30

65 years and over.,... 541 654 153 131 37 34 49 55 266 402 36 32

Not reported ................ 2,379 1,097 381 423 20 29 27 24 99 109 1,852 512

fExcludes 1,S26 respondents who did not report their sex in 1972 end 74,S73 who did not report their sex in 1977-76.

ZIncludes 1,013 male nurses employed in nursing for whom full-or part-time employment was not specified.

s Includes 63 male nurses employed in nursing for whom full-or part-time employment was not specified.

Table 18. Percent distribution of male registered nurses by employment status, according to age and year of inventory: United States,

1972 and 1977-78

Employment status and year of inventoty

All male Employed Employed Employed Not”

Age registered full time part time, part time, employed

nurses regular irregular in nursing

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All ages ...................................

Under 25 years.,....................

25-29 years............................

30-34 years............................

35-39 years............................

40-44 years............................

45-49 years..,.,..,....................

50-54 years............................

55-59 years............................

60-64 years...........................0

65 years and over ................

Not reported ...........................

100.0

100,0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100,0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

75.9 79.6 5.3

85.8 84.1 7.2

81.7 84.1 6.2

80.6 84.5 6.3

80.4 82.2 4.4

79.5 78.7 5.2

77.5 79.5 5.5

76.2 77.0 3.9

68.2 68.6 3.9

59.8 54.6 3.8

30.3 21.1 7.3

72.3 72.3 3.8

4.6

4.7

4.8

3.9

5.0

5.5

3.9

4.4

4.5

3.1

5.5

5.0

3.5

3.3

3.4

3.4

3.0

2.5

3.5

2.3

2.2

5.5

9.7

5.1

3.2 15.2 12.7

4.9 3.8 6.4

3.3 8.7 7.8

2.7 9.8 8.9

2.3 12.1 10.4

2.7 12.9 13.2

2.9 13.4 13.7

3.5 17.7 15.1

2.8 . 25.6 24.1

4.9 30.8 37.4

8.8 52.7 64.6

4.1 18.8 18.6

13
Table 19. Number of female registered nurses, by age, employment status, and year of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Employment status and year of inventory

All female Employed Employed Employed

Age

Not

registered part time, part time, Not

full time employed

nurses~ regular irregular in nursing reported

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 197P 1977-783

All ages ................... 1,111,206 1,273,034495,666 629,601 158,807178,646 78,025 95,616 314,334 314,277 64,374 54,694

Under 25 years ...... 72,696 95,450 57,146 78,558 5,520 5,882 1,915 3,762 6,190 5,276 1,925 1,972

25-29 years ............ 162,774 197,453 83,431 123,033 27,776 28,203 9,815 13,966 37,147 28,025 4,605 4,226

30-34 years.., ......... 141,692 181,092 49,784 79,788 27,998 35,481 11,565 17,357 48,553 44,685 3,792 3,781

35-39 years ............ 127,334 153,879 45,468 66,331 24,494 29,396 ~0,282 14,114 42,940 40,872 4,150 3,166

40-44 years ............ 115,620 135,370 48,359 64,770 20,630 24,087 8,643 10,950 33,509 32,615 4,479

4549 years ............ 123,365

2,948

118,995 58,841 61,728 19,276 18,437 8,249 8,357 32,018 27,862 4,981 2,611

50-54 years ............ 98,823 120,652 50,826 62,288 11,865 16,234 6,157 7,901 25,423 31,364 4,552 2,865

55-59 years ............ 75,963 91,605 38,864 46,314 7,366 9,272 4,684 5,778

60-64 years ............

21,114 27,639 3,935

65,529

2,602

62,260 30,377 25,492 5,115 4,973 4,696 4,361 21,699 24,998 3,642

65 years and over 59,223

2,436

67,823 11,696 8,676 3,647 3,803 7,454 6,855 32,710 43,630 3,516 4,859

Not reported ........... 68,187 48,455 20,674 12,823 5,120 2,878 4,565 2,215 13,031 7,311 24,797 23,228

1Excludes 1,826 respondents who did not report their sex in 1972 and 74,873 who did not reporl their sex in 1977-78.

ZIncludes 33,91 S female nurses employed in nursing for whom full-or part-time employment was not specified.

aIncludes 3,S65 female nurses employed in nursing for whom full-or part-time employment was not specified.

Table 20. Percent distribution of female registered nurses by employment status, according to age and year of inventory: United States,

1972 and 1977-78

Employment status and year of inventoty

All female Employed Employed Employed Not

Age registered full time part time, part time, employed

nurses regular irregular in nursing

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All ages .............................................

Under 25 yak .. ..............................

25-29 years ......................................

30-34 years..., ..................................

35-39 years ......................................

40-44 years ......................................

45-49 years ......................................

50-54 years ......................................

55-59 years ......................................

60-64 years ......................................

65 years and over...,,,..., ................

Not reported .....................................

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100,0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

47.3 51.7 15.2 14.7 7.5 7.8 30.0 25.8

80.7 84.0 7.8 6.3 2.7 4.0 8.7 5.6

52.7 63.7 17.6 14.6 6.2 7.2 23.5 14.5

36.1 45.0 20.3 20.0 8.4 9.8 35.2 25.2

36.9 44.0 19.9 19.5 8.3 9.4 34.9 27.1

43.5 46.9 18.6 18.2 7.8 8.3 30.1 24.6

49.7 53.0 16.3 15.8 7.0 7.2 27.0 23.9

53.9 52.9 12.6 13.8 6.5 6.7 27.0 26.6

54.0 52.0 10.2 10.4 6.5 6.5 29.3 31.1

49.1 42.6 8.3 8.3 7.3 35.0 41.8

21.4 13.8 6.5 6.0 lg 10.9 58.7 89,3

47.6 50.8 11.8 11.4 10.5 8.8 30.0 29.0

14
Table 21. Number of registered nurses, by age, employment status, and year of inventory United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Employment status and vear of inventow

All Employed Employed Employed Not

Age registered part time, part time, employed Not

full time

nurses< regular irregular in nursing reported

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 197.2? 1977-783

AH ages,,,,,,,.., ........ 1,125,831 1,300,335 504,601 650,536 159,435 179,833 78,438 96,466 316,127 317,577 67,230 55,923

Under 25 years ..... 73,353 97,276 57,671 80,048 5,564 5,965 1,935 3,848 8,213 5,389 1,970 2,028

25-29 years ........... 164,850 204,180 84,991 128,544 27,894 28,518 9,879 14,180 37,314 28,536 4,772 4,402

30-34 years ........... 143,836 187,123 51,359 84,748 28,121 35,709 11,831 17,513 48,744 45,209 3,981 3,944

35-39 years ........... 129,013 157,341 46,690 69,104 24,561 29,566 10,328 14,193 43,124 41,224 4,310 3,254

40-44 years ........... 117,085 137,715 49,423 66,570 20,699 24,212 8,676 11,020 33,682 32,916 4,605 2,997

45-49 years ........... 124,571 120,929 59,694 63,221 19,337 16,510 6,288 8,411 32,165 28,121 5,087 2,686

50-54 years., ......... 99,836 122,032 51,537 63,327 11,901 16,294 6,178 7,948 25,588 31,568 4,632 2,895

55-59 years ........... 76,871 92,689 39,442 47,030 7,399 9,319 4,703 5,807 21,331 27,891 3,996 2,642

60-64 years ........... 66,086 63,021 30,690 25,891 5,135 4,996 4,725 4,397 21,860 25,271 3,676 2,466

65 years and over 59,764 66,477 12,049 8,807 3,684 6,637 7,503 6,910 32,976 44,032 3,552 4,891

Not reported .......... 70,566 49,552 21,055 13,246 5,140 2,907 4,592 2,239 13,130 7,420 26,649 23,740

t Excludes 1,S26 respondents who did not report their sex in 1972 and 74,S73 who did not report their sex in 1977–7S.

ZIncludes 34,931 nurses employed in nursing for whom full-or part-time employment was not specified.

sIncludes 3,94S nurses employed in nursing for whom full-or part-time employment was not specified.

Table 22. Percent distribution of registered nurses by employment status, according to age and year of inventory United States, 1972 and

1977-7fr.-

Employment status and year of inventory

All Employed Employed Employed Not

Age registered full time part time, part time, employed

nurses regular irregular in nursing

1972 1977:78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All ages ............................................. 100.0 100.0 47.7 52.3 15.1 14.5 7.4 7.8 29.9 25.5

Under 25 years ................................ 100.0 100.0 60.8 84.0 7.8 6.3 2.7 4.0 8.7 5.7

25-29 years ...................................... 100.0 100.0 53.0 64.3 17.4 14.3 6.2 7.1 23.3 14.3

30-34 years ...................................... 100.0 100.0 36.7 46.3 20.1 19.5 8.3 9.6 34.9 24.7

35-39 years ...................................... 100.0 100.0 37.4 44.8 19.7 19.2 8.3 9.2 34.6 26.8

40-44 years ...................................... 100.0 100.0 43.9 49.4 16.4 18.0 7.7 8.2 29.9 24.4

45-49 years ...................................... 100.0 100.0 50.0 53.5 16.2 15.7 6.9 7.1 26.9 23.8

50-54 years ...................................... 100.0 100.0 54.1 53.2 12.5 13.7 6.5 6.7 26.9 26.5

55-59 years ...................................... 100.0 100.0 54.1 52.2 10.2 10.3 6.5 6.4 29.3 31.0

60-64 years ...................................... 100.0 100.0 49.2 42.8 8.2 8.3 7.6 7.3 35.0 41.7

65 years and over .......................... 100.0 100.0 21.4 13.9 6.6 6.0 13.3 10.9 58.7 69.2

Not reported ..................................... 100.0 100.0 47.9 51.3 11.7 11.3 10.5 8.7 29.9 28.7

15
Table 23. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing, by area of clinical practice, employment setting, and year of inventory:

United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Employment setting and year of inventory

Area of clinical practice All settings Hospital Nursing home School of Private duty nursing

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All areas of practice ......... 778,470 958,308 499,594 622,804 53,988 72,692 28,820 32,199 38,923 26,410

Geriatric ................................ 61,377 76,606 10,583 9,147 43,186 58,578

Gynecologic or obstetric..

498 634

59,029

2,869

76,057

2,716

48,427 59,519 206 303 1,620 3,487

Medical or surgical ........... 293,822

365 364

375,361 251,330 332,077 1,090 1,455 12,343 13,397

Pediatric or maternal9,917 7,195

child health ....................... 58,161 59,928 35,224 41,559 281 434 3,883 2,983

Psychiatric or mental

360 337

health ................................. 37,860 51,564 30,400 35,823 503 1,747 2,687 3,280 375

General practice ................ 156,633 142,205 72,891

345

78,976 3,019 3,733 5,038 3,100

Other specified area .........

12,236 9,973

22,654 108,137 15,321 32,428 100 1,000 578 3,844

Not reported ....................... 88,934

573 1,037

68,450 35,418 33,275 5,603 5,442 2,173 1,474 12,208 4,443

Employment setting and year of inventoiy

Area of clinical practice Public health Industrial Other

or community School nurse or Office nurse specified Not

health occupational setting reported

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All areas of practice ......... 39,096 52,864 29,849 33,530 19,403 20,736 52,390 59,553 4,086 24,784 12,321 12,736

Geriatric ............................... 2,480 2,345 175 153 131 152 389 423 221 1,756 845 702

Gynecologic or obstetric.. 1,547 2,127 204 401 125 122 5,779 7,349 150 1,901 586 484

Medical or surgical ............ 2,447 1,563 879 919 1,804 1,053 11,120 12,610 482 3,219

Pediatric or maternal2,410 1,873

child health ....................... 6,247 2,348 6,496 4,539 120 102 4,581 6,004 354 1,208

Psychiatric or mental

615 414

health ................................. 1,942 5,456 408 517 177 279 339 484 289 2,752

General practice ................ 18,293

740 881

3,586 13,283 5,050 10,603 11,110 18,368 21,504 932 3,680 1,970 1,293

Other specified area ......... 901 33,116 837 17,763 612 4,713 2,602 5,054 862

Not reported ....................... 5,239 2,323

7,462 268 1,720

7,567 4,188 5,831 3,205 9,212 6,125 796 2,606 4,887 5,369

16
Table 24. Percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing by employment setting, according to area of clinical practice and year of inventoty

United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Employment setting and year of inventow

Nursing Public health Industrial

Area of clinical practice School of OtherAll settings Hospital home nursing Private duty or commu- School nurse or Office nurse specitied

nity health occupational seti”ng

,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 7977– ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,97* 1977-

78 78 78 78 78 78 78 78 78 78

All areas of practice .....................

Geriatric ...........................................

Gynecologic or obstetric ..............

Medical or surgical ........................

Pediatric or maternai-child

health.............................................

Psychiatric or mental health .......

General practice ............................

Other sr3ecified area .....................

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

65.2 65.9 7.0 7.7 3.8 3.4 5.1 2.8 5.1 5.6 3.9 3.5 2.5 2.2 6.8 6.3 0.5 2.6

17.5 12.1 71.3 77.2 0.8 0.8 4.7 3.6 4.1 3.1 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.6

82.9

0.6 0.4 2.3

78.8 0.4 0.4 2.8 4.6 0.7 0.5 2.6 2.8 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.2 9.9 9.7 0.3 2.5

86.2 88.9 0.4 0.4 4.2 3.6 3.4 1.9 0.8 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.6 0.3, 3.8 3.4 0.2 0.9

61.2 69.8 0.5 0.7 6.7 5.0 0.6 0.6 10.9 3.9 11.3 7.6 0.2 0.2 8.0 10.1 0.6 2.0 ~

81.9 70.7 1.4 3.4 7.2 6.5 1.0 0.7 5.2 10.8 1.1 1.0 0.5 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.8 5.4

47.1 56.0 2.0 2.6 3.2 2.2 7.9 7.1 11.8 2.5 8.6 3.6 6.9 7.9 11.9 15.3 0.6 2.8

68.4 30.5 0.4 0.9 2.6 3.6 2.6 1.0 4.0 31.1 3.7 16.7 2.7 4.4 11.6 4.7 3.9 7.0

Not reported ................................... 100.0 100.0 42.1 52.7 6.7 8.6 2.6 2.3 14.5 7.0 6.2 3.7 9.0 6.6 6.9 5.1 11.0 9.7 0.9 4.1
Table 25. Number of registered nurses employed in nursing, by type of position, employment setting, and year of inventory:

United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Employment setting and year of inventory

Type of position All settings Hospital Nursing home School of

nursing Private duty

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All nursing positions ......... 778,470 958,308 499,594 622,804 53,988 72,692 28,820 32,199 38,923

Administrator or

26,410

assistant ............................ 29,752 34,881 13,953 14,796 6,816 8,052 2,800

Consultant ........................... 6,681 7,609

2,755 . . . . . .

2,079 1,236 380 1,273 243

Supervisor or assistant ..... 80,648

125 . . . . . .

91,862 54,445 56,734 13,362 17,456 640

Instructor ............................. 32,657

289 . . . . . .

42,775 7,150 10,266 637 1,612 22,859

Head nurse or assistant.. 119,9o5

26,272 . . . . . .

133,426 89,952 96,019 13,428 17,273 350

Staff or general duty ........ 432,976

179 . . . . . .

543,782 309,794 408,443

Other!

17,853 24,233 1,019 807 . . . .,,

.................................. 54,841 87,408 11,290 29,471 252 1,636 214 1,351 38,923 26,410

Not reported ....................... 21,010 16,565 10,931 5,839 1,260 1,155 695 421 . . . . . .

Employment setting and year of inventoty

Type of position Public health Industrial Other

or community School nurse or Office nurse specified Not

health occupational setting reported

1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78 1972 1977-78

All nursing positions ......... 39,096 52,864 29,849 33,530 19,403 20,736 52,390 59,553 4,086 24,784 12,321 12,736

Administrator or

assistant ............................ 2,667 3,998 927 1,099 595 756 1,057 1,213 393

Consultant ........................... 2,022 1,778 842

1,855 544

807 309

357

298 137 191 295 1,708 374 193

Supervisor or assistant ..... 5,494 7,470 1,576 1,816 1,881 2,375 1,980 2,839 349

Instructor ............................. 826

2,194 921 689

878 . . . . . . 97 324 158 232 304 2,797 626 394

Head nurse or assistant.. 2,281 3,389 2,161 2,507 3,899 3,865 6,422 7,653 303

Staff or general duty ........

1,838 1,109 703

22,431 27,964 23,829 23,840 12,345 11,594 41,383 38,764

Otherl 537

902

6,276 514

5,469

3,461

3,420 2,668

.................................. 277 1,524 1,253 8,661 1,219 7,659 362 957

Not reported ....................... 2,838 1,111 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 1,264 4,965 6,775

.-.

~Includes nurse practitioners and clinical specialists for 1977-7S and additional categories for both 1972 and 1977-7S. Clinical specialists in 1972 were coded as

consultants.

18
Table 26. Percent distribution of registered nurses employed in nursing by employment setting, according to type of position and year of inventory: United States, 1972 and 1977-78

Employment se~”ng and yew of inventory

Public health

TyP of position Nursing School of Industrial

All settings

Other

Hospital home nursing Private duty or commu- School nurse or 0t7ice nurse specified

nity health occupational setting

,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977_ ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 1977- ,972 7977-

78 78 78 78 78 78 78 78 78 78

All nursing positions ..................... 100.0 100.0 65.2 65.9 7.0 7.7 3.8 3.4 5.1 2.8 5.1 5.6 3.9 3.5 2.5 2.2 6.8 6.3 ().5 2.6

Administrator or assistant ............ 100.0 100.0 47.8 42.9 23.3 23.3

Consultant ....................................... 100.0 100.0 33.r3

9.6 8.0 . . . . . . 9.1

16.7 6.0

11.6 3.2 3.2 2.0 2.2 “ 3.6 3.5 1.3 5.4

17.2 3.9 1.7 . . . . . .

Supervisor or assistant ................. 100.0 100.0 68.3

32.1 24.0 13.4 10.9 4.9 4.0 2.2

62.2 16.8

2.6 4.7 23.0

19.1 0.8 0.3 . . . . . .

Instructor ......................................... 100.0 100.0 22.3 24.2 2.0

6.9 8.2 2.0 2.0 2.4 2.6 2.5 3.1 0.4 2.4

3.8 71.4

Head nurse or assistant .............. 100.0 100.0 75.7

62.0 . . . . . . 2.6 2.1 . . . . . . 0.3

72.3 11.3 13.0

0.8 0.5 0.5 0.9 6.6

Staff or general duty .................... 100.0 100.0 72.1

0.3 0.1 . . . . . . 1.9 2.6 1.8 1.9 3.3 2.9 5.4 5.8 0.3

75.5 4.2 4.5 0.2 0.1 . . . . . . 5.2 5.2 5.5

1.4

Other~

4.4 2.9

100.0 100.0 20.7 34.1 0.5 1.9 0.4 1.6

2.1 9.6 7.2 0.2 1.0

.............................................. 71.4 30.5 1.0 7.2 0.9 4.0 0.5 1.8 2.3 10.0 2.2 8.9

1Includes nurse practitioners and clinical specialists for 1977–78 and additional categories for both 1972 and 1977–78. Clinical specialists in 1972 were coded as consultants.
Appendixes

Contents

1.

Il.

Ill.

Iv.

Definitions of certain terms used in this report ......................................................................................................................

Geographic area ...............................................................................................................................................................

Age ..................................................................................................................................................................... ................

Part-time work and racial and ethnic categories ............................................................................................................

Data collection and processing ...............................................................................................................................................

Cooperative Health Statistics System ............................................................................................................................

Minimum data set ..............................................................................................................................................................

Removing duplicate records ............................................................................................................................................

Data collected for the 1977-78 Inventory of Registered Nurses .........................................................................................

Limitation of data ...................................................................................................................................................... ...............,

Race or ethnic background ........................................................................................................................................,,.,.,

Basic and highest educational background ....................................................................................................................

Type of position ...................................................................................................................................................... ...........

Population coverage .........................................................................................................................................................

Nonresponse .....................................................................................................................................................................

appendix tables

1. Cooperative Health Statistics System (CHSS) States supplying data to the American Nurses Association for

1977-78 Registered Nurse Inventory and year of data ........................................................................................................

Il. Percent of missing data for some major inventory variables, 1977-78 ...............................................................................

21

21

21

21

22

22

22

23

24

26

26

26

26

27

27

22

27
Appendix 1. Definitions of

certain terms used in this

report I

Geographic area.—The following are based on U.S. Age.—Age of nurse was obtained by subtracting

Bureau of the Census classifications: the nurse’s year of birth from 1977.

Region States included Part-time work and racial and ethnic categories.—

These variables are not defined and are self-reported.

East North Central ......... Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin

East South Central ........ Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee

Middle Atlantic ................ New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania

Mountain ........................... Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,

New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

New England ................... Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New

Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont

Pacific ............................... Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington

South Atlantic .................. Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

West North Central ........ Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota

West South Central ....... Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas

21
Appendix IL Data collection

and processing

Cooperative Health Statistics System

In response to a need for demographic and

practice data on health professions personnel, the

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) established the manpower component of the Cooperative

Health Statistics System (CHSS), which was designed

to decentralize the collection of data from the Federal

to the State level. The data were transferred from each

State in the system to NCHS. The CHSS was never

fully developed to provide health manpower data in all

States, and eventually this component of the system

was terminated. While it was in operation, 19 States

provided data on registered nurses to the American

Nurses Association (ANA) for use in the 1977-78

Inventory of Registered Nurses (table I of this appendix). Data collected by the CHSS States were sent on

tapes to the ANA and NCHS. In those States not part

of the CHSS, the ANA conducted a survey of all

licensed nurses in conjunction with each State’s licensing board.

*

Minimum data set

As part of the CHSS, NCHS developed a uniform

minimum data set (MDS) in consultation with other

producers and users of health manpower data. The

MDS consisted of a core of basic data on 13 health

occupations plus occupation-specific data elements.

For each occupation there was to have been developed

an occupation-specific set of data elements which,

combined with the core set, became the MDS. However, at the time of this publication data elements

germane to only six occupations were developed,

These were dentistry, dental hygiene, nursing (registered and practical), optometry, and pharmacy. Aside

dThehealthoccupations were chiropractic, dental hygiene, dentistry,

medicine (allopathic and osteopathic), nursing (registered and practical),

nursing home administration, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy,

podiatry, and veterinary medicine.

22

Table 1. Cooperative Health Statistics System (CHSS) States

supplying data to the American Nurses Association for

1977-78 Registered Nurse Inventory and year of data

C/-/SS States Year of data

Arkansas ............................................................

Colorado .............................................................

Floflda .................................................................

Maine ..................................................................

Massachusetts ...................................................

Michigan .............................................................

Minnesota ...........................................................

Missouri ..............................................................

Nebraska ............................................................

North Carolina ...................................................

Oregon ................................................................

Pennsylvania ......................................................

Rhode island .....................................................

South Carolina ..................................................

Tennessee .........................................................

Utah ....................................................................

Wrginia ................................................................

West Virginia .....................................................

Wsconsin ....c......................................................

1978

1978

1977

1976

1976

1977

1977

1977

1976

1978

1977

1977

1977

1978

1976

1976

1976

1976

1976

from identifying numbers, the core data were as

follows:

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

Current name.

Mailing address.

State of residence.

Principal place of work.

Birth date,

Sex.

Race,

Hispanic origin.

Year of graduation for initial licensure.

State in which school or program was located.

Weeks worked in past 12 months,

Hours worked.

The occupation-specific data items were the following:
●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

County of residence.

Marital status.

Basic nursing educational preparation.

Highest degree held.

Number of States in which licensed.

Employment status.

Activity status.

Principal field of employment.

Type of nursing position.

Major clinical, teaching, or practice area in nursing.

List of States in which currently licensed.

For the 1977-78 Survey of Licensed Nurses, this

MDS was the basis for the development of the data

collection instrument. Data items on the individual

questionnaires developed by each State participating in

the CHSS were to be identical. However, because

legislative and administrative requirements varied

among the States, the order of the questions and the

wording or the format of the questionnaires departed

from the NCHS model. In a few cases, State legislation

prevented the collection of certain data items considered sensitive, such as race. In addition, States were

permitted to exclude from the questionnaire any items

for which data were available from their State licensing

board records. They were also allowed to include on

their questionnaires other questions that were not part

of the MDS but that States needed for their own

information. The use of the MDS as the basis for all

questionnaires resulted in data that could be merged to

produce a national file of registered nurses.

Appendix III documents the items collected during the

1977-78 Inventory of Registered Nurses.

Removing duplicate records

The 51 State tapes (including that from the

District of Columbia) were obtained by the ANA

either through the CHSS or from the ANA surveys of

the individual States. When the individual State tapes

were merged into a national data file, the file contained

the total number of nursing licenses held in the

country. Although this number is interesting and

useful, from a national perspective it is far more

important to focus on the number of individual health

practitioners as :he unit of analysis. Shortage area

designation, adequacy of supply, and minority assimilation, to name some functions, depend on individuals

and their work locations, and multiple counting of the

same individual would not be acceptable in evaluating

these factors. Thus it was necessary to remove duplicate records of nurses licensed in more than one State

and derive a national data file in which each nurse was

counted only once.

The total number of licenses held by nurses before

unduplication was 1,601,532. After 226,324 licenses

were eliminated from the file by the deletion process,

1,375,208 individually licensed nurses remained.

Reason for removal of licenses Number

on national data file

Total number of licenses ......................................... 1,601,532

Total removed from file ........................................... 226,324

Geographically located outside United

States .................................................................... 10,916

No unique identifiers (social security number,

name, address).................................................... 765

Matching social security number........................ 129,000

Matching process .................................................. 64,743

Other ....................................................................... 900

Total number of registered nurses ........................ 1;375,208

Before passage of the Privacy Act of 1974 (Public

Law 93-579), the primary tool for removing duplicate

records of individuals licensed in more than one State

was the social security number. But as the public

became concerned about the potential invasion of

privacy made possible by the development of highspeed computers and the linking of various data

systems, the Privacy Act was passed to ensure the

confidentiality of records. The Act, among other

things, established stringent conditions on the use of

the social security number. Section 7(b) states the

following:

Any Federal, State, or local government agency which requests an individual to disclose his

social security number shall inform that itidividual whether that disclosure is mandatory or

voluntary, by what statutory or other authority such number is solicited, and what uses will

be made of it.

The effect of this provision was twofold. First, all

manpower questionnaires had to comply with

Section 7(b) above. Second, many State CHSS contractors were prohibited from asking social security

number by executive decree or through State legislative action. Because the effect of the Privacy Act was

to make it difficult to collect or use the social security

number as a means for purging the file of duplicate

records, an alternative method to remove duplicate

records was devised.

All records that did not contain social security

numbers and the unduplicated file that contained

social security numbers were compared, using alphabetized name and invariant statistical information,

such as year and month of birJ.h, location of basic

nursing education, and year of graduation.

23
Appendix Ill. Data collected

for the 1977-78 Inventory

of Registered Nurses

Identifying number

1 Social security number

2 License number

3 Other

Name: Last, first, middle initial

Mailing address

Location of basic nursing program

State

Foreign country

Year of graduation from basic nursing program

Basic nursing educational preparation

1 Diploma

2 Associate degree

3 Baccalaureate or higher

4 Other

Highest degree held

1 Diploma

2 Associate degree

3 Baccalaureate in nursing

4 Baccalaureate in other field

5 Master’s in nursing

6 Master’s in other field

7 Doctorate

Birthdate: Month, day, year

Sex

1 Male

2 Female

Marital status

1 Never married

2 Married

3 Separated

4 Widowed

5 Divorced

Race

1

2

3

4

5

24

Caucasian or white

Negro or black

American Indian or native American

Oriental or Asian

Other

Hispanic origin or descent

1 Mexican or Chicano

2 Puerto Rican or Boricua

3 Cuban

4 Central or South American

5 Other Hispanic

Number of States, territories, and Commonwealths in

which currently licensed

List of States, territories, and Commonwealths in

which currently licensed

Average hours per week worked in past 12

Number of weeks worked in past 12 months

Emtdovment status

months

i

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

F;ll time in nursing

Part time in nursing

Full time in field other than nursing

Part time in field other than nursing

Unemployed

Employed in nursing but full- or part-time not

indicated

Employed in field other than nursing but full- or

part-time not indicated

Retired

If unemployed, are you actively seeking employment

as a registered nurse?

1 Yes

2 No

Location of residence

State, territory, Commonwealth

County

City

Location of Employment

State, territory, Commonwealth

County

City

ZIP Code

Principal field or setting of employment

01 Hospital

02 Nursing home
03 School of nursing

04 Private duty

05 School nurse

06 Occupational health nurse

07 Office nurse

08 Community health

09 Self-employed other than private duty

10 Other

Type of nursing position

1 Administrator or assistant administrator

2 Consultant

3 Supervisor or assistant

4 Instructor

5 Head nurse or assistant

6 Staff or general duty

7 Nurse associate or practitioner

8 Clinical specialist (master’s degree)

9 Other

Major clinical, teaching, or practice area in nursing

1 Generalized community health

2 General practice

3 Geriatric

4 Obstetric or gynecologic

5 Medical or surgical

6 Pediatric

7 Psychiatric or mental health

8 Other

25
Appendix IV. Limitation of

data

a

This portion of the report is taken from material

found in D.C. Schulte: Inventory of Registered Nurses,

1977-78. Kansas City, Mo. American Nurses Association, 1981. This material is being reprinted with the

permission of the American Nurses Association and

the authors appreciate and thank the ANA for

permission to use the material.

Race or ethnic background

Many States did not collect data on race or ethnic

background. Some States were prohibited from including such questions by either executive decree or by

legislative action. The race questions of many other

States were slightly different from that of the majority

in that the category for Hispanic origin or descent was

not included, or a separate question on Hispanic origin

was not included in the questionnaire for these States.

For these States, nurses of Hispanic origin could have

been coded as having missing data or could have been

scattered throughout the other categories, depending

upon their responses to the incomplete race question.

To remove the bias of such data against Hispanic

origin, all States that supplied race data using an

incomplete race question had all of these data converted to missing values. Although this removes the bias

against Hispanic origin, it creates a bias against those

States that supplied incomplete race data. The States

supplying complete race data may not be representative of those States that prohibited race questions or

supplied incomplete race data, The national distributions of nurses in the race categories are limited to

those States supplying complete data and may therefore be biased. The following States supplied no race

data: Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, North

Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah.

For the following States, the race data collected

were not complete: Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan,

Missouri, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode

Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Finally, for approximately 175 Alaska nurses and

3,000 New Mexico nurses, no race data were collected.

Basic and highest educational

background

The question on highest educational preparation

has been modified slightly. The present inventory has

diploma and associate degree as new categories for this

item. In previous inventories, if the highest degree was

less than a baccalaureate, it had to be inferred from the

basic educational preparation. The small group of

nurses with a diploma as their basic and an associate

degree as their highest was categorized as having a

diploma as the highest degree in the previous inventory.

Nurses who failed to supply their highest degree

were given one by having it recoded to equal their

basic. Nurses who failed to supply their basic degree

were given one equal to their highest if their highest

degree was one of the three basic nursing preparation

degrees (diploma, associate degree, or baccalaureate in

nursing). All nurses indicating “other” for their basic

degree had this response recoded. If the nurse reported

the highest degree as being one of the basic nursing

preparation degrees and listed “other” for basic, that

basic degree was recoded by computer from “other” to

equal the nurse’s highest degree. If the nurse reported

the highest degree as being something other than one

of the basic nursing preparations, the basic degree if

“other” was recoded to diploma.

Type of position

It is uncertain how the nurses responded to the

clinical specialist category because of the master’s

degree caveat attached to the category. The category

was listed as “clinical specialist (master’s degree)” for

all but the following States: Delaware, Maryland, and

North Carolina (1978-1979 renewal period only).

These three States had the category “clinical specialist.” A large percent of those responding as clinical

specialists did not indicate that they had a master’s

degree in nursing for their highest degree-or even a

baccalaureate in nursing. It is uncertain how many

26
nurses who were functioning as specialists failed to

indicate such because of the master’s degree restriction,

Population coverage

Much correspondence was exchanged between the

ANA and the respective State boards and others to

ensure as complete a coverage of the nurse population

as possible for each State (at least of renewals). The

surveys were sent out primarily at license renewal

time. The renewal forms themselves served as inventory questionnaires for most States. Questionnaires sent

with the renewal notice were used for three other

States, For the remaining four States for which ANA

was responsible for data collection, a census file was

received and served as a file for mailing questionnaires.

Mailing followups by ANA to nonrespondents were

conducted to ensure high response rates for several

States, Matching of all survey respondents to complete

census files was carried out to obtain responses from

nonrespondents in 12 of the 32 States (including the

District of Columbia) for which ANA had total

responsibility for data collection. The 19 State contractors of the Cooperative Health Statistics System

handled the data in the same general manner.

Nonresponse

Table II is a list of the percents of missing data for

some of the major variables in the inventory. These

percents are quite low; but given the large number of

survey respondents, the numbers affected are large.

Wherever counts were utilized, adjustments for nonresponse were addressed.

It was not possible to calculate an overall nonresponse figure because the CHSS States very often

included information on their tapes that was available

from licensing board records. Thus identifying nonrespondents was not always possible. In a personal

communication, Duane Schulte4 suggested that the

percent nonresponse to the question on employment

status (6.8 percent) would be representative of nonresponse to the questionnaire because this item would not

likely be available in the records of licensing boards.

TABLE Il. Percent of missing data for some major inventory

variables, 1977-78

Variable Percent

rwre.wonse

All Nurses

Employment status ...............................................

Basic education ....................................................

Location of basic nursing education ................

Highest education .................................................

Race .......................................................................

Nurses employed in nursing

Field of employ merit ...........................................

Type of position ...................................................

Major clinical area ................................................

5.4

8.1

6.8

6.0

14.9

5.8

40.7

1.3

1.7

7.1

till , S , GOWWNT PRINTING OFFICE: 1982-381-16 I :522 27
Vital and Health Statistics series descriptions

SERIES1.

SERIES 2.

SERIES 3.

SERIES 4.

SERIES 10.

SE131ES II.

SERIES 12.

SERIES 13.

Programs and Collection Procedures. -Reports describing

the general programs of the National Center for Health

Statistics and its offices and divisions and the data colIccticrn methods used. They also include definitions and

other material necessary forunderstanding the data.

Data Evaluation and Methods Research. –Studies of new

statistical methodology including experimental tests of

now survey methods, studies of vital statistics collection

methods, newaxrlytical techniques, objective evaluations

of reliability of collected data, and contributions to statistical theory.

Analytical and Epidemiological Studies. -Reports presenting analytical or interpretive studies based on vital

md health statistics, carry ing the analysis further than the

cxpmitory types of reports in the other series.

Documents and Committee Reports. –Final reports of

mojor committees concerned with vital and health statistics and documents such as recommended model vital

registration laws and revised birth and deeth certificates.

Data from the National Health interview Suwey.–Statistics on illness, accidental injuries, disability, use of hospital, medical, dental, and other services, and other

health-related topics, all based on data collected in the

continuing natiorral household interview survey.

Data From the National Health Examination Survey and

tho National Health and Nutrition Examination Survay.–

Data from direct examination, testing, and measurement

of national ssrmples of the civilian noninstitutional ized

population provide the basis for ( 1) estimates of the

medically defined prevalence of specific diseases in the

United States and the distributions of the population with

respect to physical, physiological, and psychological

characteristics and (2) analysis of relationships among tha

various measurements without reference to an explicit

finite universe of persons.

Data From the Institutionalized Population Surveys. –Discontinued in 1975. Reports from these surveys are included in Series 13.

Data on Health Resources Utilization. –Statistics on the

utilization of health manpower and facilities providing

SERIES 14.

SERIES 15.

SERIES 20.

SERIES 21.

SERIES 22.

SERIES 23

For a list of

long-term care, ambulatory care, hospttal care, and family

planning services.

Data on Health Resources: Manpower and Facilitiee.–

Statistics on the numbers, geographic distribution, and

characteristics of health resources Includlng physicians,

dentists, nurses, other health occupations, hospitals,

nursing homes, and outpatient facilities.

Data From Special Surveys. –Statistics on health and

health-related topics collected In special surveys that are

not a part of the continuing data systems of the National

Center for Health Stat] stlcs.

Data on Mortality.–Varlous statlstvx on mortality other

than as included in regular annual or monthly reports.

Special analyses by cause of death, age, and other demographic variables; geographic and time series analyses; and

statistics on characteristics of deaths not available from

the vital records based on sample surveys of those records.

Data on Natality, Marriage, and Divorce. –Various statistics on natality, marriage, and divorce other than as

included [n regular annual or monthly reports. Special

analyses by demographic variables; geographic and time

series analyses; stud!es of fertility; and statistics on

characteristics of births not available from the vital

records based on sample surveys of those records.

Data From the National Mortality and Natality Surveys.–

Discontinued }n 1975. Reports from these sample surveys

based on vital records are Included In Series 20 and 21,

respectively.

Data From tha National Survey of Family Growth. -

Statlstlcs on fertility, family formation and dissolution,

family planning, and related maternal and Infant health

topics derwed from a periodic survey of a nationwide

probability sample of ever-marriad women 15-44 years of

age.

titles of reports published in these series, write to:

Scientific and Technical Information Branch

National Center for Health Statistics

Public Health Service

Hyattsville, Md. 20782
U.S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Public Health Service

Nattonal Center for Health Statistics

370U EastWest Highway

Hyattsv]lle, Maryland 20782

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE, $300

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