Medical experts and parents are calling for good nursing care in a time of rising health care costs.
The issue, said Nancy Stadler, director of the National Nurses United union, is one of the most pressing health care challenges of our time.
The nurses, who have been in a profession for more than 150 years, are a key pillar of our health care system, Stadlers group said in a news release on Thursday.
Stadler said the nation needs nurses who are good at the job and are committed to helping their patients.
“Our nation needs a healthy, strong, well-trained workforce,” she said.
“Nurses are vital to our health and wellbeing, and we need nurses who want to keep working to do so.”
For years, nurses have been battling to make ends meet, as the profession has seen an average pay increase of just over 4% over the past decade.
In 2018, nurses’ median annual salary was $51,800, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In 2017, that figure jumped to $63,700, according the Bureau.
The median annual income of nurses in 2018 was $61,000, up from $55,600 in 2017.
While a lot of that pay hike has gone to union members, it hasn’t gone to workers who have taken on new positions, such as nurses on the front lines.
That’s led to a shortage of nurses and an increase in the number of patients who need hospital care.
The shortage of nursing care is a growing concern.
The American Nurses Association says there are more than 12.5 million registered nurses working in the United States.
The union says the number has risen by more than 1 million nurses per month over the last two years.
Nurses’ wages have been on the decline for decades, which means they have to pay more to hospitals to treat patients.
That means more patients requiring hospital care, more waiting times and more expensive care.
That, in turn, means more health care expenses, which the union says has a huge impact on the health of American families.
A recent study from the University of Washington showed that the health care cost of nursing homes is higher than that of hospitals.
It found that nursing homes spend $6,400 per patient per year to care for the same number of residents.
Hospitals spend an average of $8,600 per patient.
The study found that a shortage in nursing homes and a lack of nurses is costing the nation $1.4 trillion annually.
A growing number of states are considering laws that would require nurses to undergo training or be required to go on unpaid leave to care on sick patients.
But those proposals have not been passed, and so far the bills have not come through.
While some states have made the move to enact legislation, the federal government has been slow to pass laws requiring nurses to complete training, which is required for many jobs.
In some cases, the states have delayed the requirement for a year or more.
States like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Washington, D.C., have passed measures to require nurses complete training but not mandatory.