Minnesota s Registered Nurse Workforce,

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1 Office of Rural Health and Primary Care P.O. Box St. Paul, MN Minnesota s Registered Nurse Workforce, The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), in cooperation with the Minnesota Board of Nursing, collects information on education, employment, career and future plans of registered nurses (RNs). Minnesota RNs complete workforce surveys during the biennial licensing renewal process. Unless noted, all data presented are based on information collected from RNs (including advanced practice registered nurses) renewing licenses from 2011 to i The survey response rate was 62 percent. ii Overall As of January 2012, there were 89,573 RNs licensed in Minnesota. Of these, an estimated 75,301 are based in Minnesota, a five percent increase from the number reported in iii Sex, Race and Ethnicity Licensed RNs were predominately female (92 percent). The male proportion of the RN workforce rose from 7.1 percent in to 7.6 percent in , a 6 percent increase. Most RNs identified their race as White (94 percent). Only 6 percent of RNs identified themselves as Black or African American, Native American, Asian or multiracial. One percent identified their ethnicity as Hispanic. Minnesota s RN workforce has become more diverse over the last 10 years, with the greatest increases among Black and Asian RNs (Graph A). 140 Graph A Non-White Registered Nurses by Year of First License Minnesota Number of RNs Year of First License Am. Indian Asian Black/African American Multiple races Other Hispanic* *Hispanic origin is asked separately from race, so individuals identifying as Hispanic can be of any race.

2 Minnesota s Registered Nurse Work Force Page 2 Age Range The median age of RNs in Minnesota was 47, a decline from the median age of 48 reported in While the percentage of RNs age 65 and older remained the same from to , RNs under 35 years increased by 21 percent. Training and Education At the time of initial licensure, most Minnesota RNs held an associate degree (46 percent), 37 percent held a bachelor s degree, 12 percent held a certificate or diploma, and 4 percent held a master s degree or higher. Among RNs who responded to the survey question about additional education, only 24 percent said they went on to earn an additional nursing degree after first becoming licensed as an RN, raising the proportion of RNs with a bachelor s degree to 40 percent, and RNs with a master s or higher to 11 percent (Graph B). Graph B Registered Nurses by Degree (n=40,532), Minnesota % Diploma* Associate Bachelor's 40% 39% Master's Doctorate *The diploma in nursing is a course of study, usually in a hospital-based setting. Overall, 83 percent of RNs received nursing education in Minnesota. More RNs with an associate degree graduated from a program in Minnesota (87 percent) compared to those with a bachelor s (65 percent) (Graph C). Graph C Registered Nurses by Degree and Program Location (n=43,453), Minnesota % 65% 84% 72% 77% 13% 35% 16% 28% 23% Associate Bachelor' s Post-baccelaureate Master's Doctorate Non-Minnesota Program Minnesota Program Page 2 April 2014

3 Minnesota s Registered Nurse Work Force Page 3 Statewide data of nursing program graduates from 2010 to 2012 shows an increased number of bachelor s and doctorate degrees while nurses graduating with an associates or master s degrees declined (Graph D). Graph D Number of Nurse Graduates by Degree from Minnesota Academic Institutions, ,936 1,368 2,028 1,529 1,930 1, Associate Degree Bachelor's Degree Post-baccalaureate Certificate Master's Degree Doctor's Degree - professional practice Doctor's Degree - research/scholarship/other Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS), 2014 Geographic Distribution Based on mailing addresses, geographic distribution of RNs scarcely changed since , with isolated areas increasing from 7 percent in to 8 percent in Overall, for every RN located in a rural area, there were at least three RNs located in an urban area of the state (Graph E), a distribution that remained unchanged since iv Graph E Geographic Distribution of Registered Nurses, Minnesota (N=71,621) and (N=75,301) 75% 75% 12% 12% 6% 7% 6% 8% Urban Large Rural Small Rural Isolated Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding. Page 3 April 2014

4 Minnesota s Registered Nurse Work Force Page 4 Work Status and Future Plans The majority (87 percent) of nurses worked in a paid position as a RN, while four percent of RNs were employed in other fields. Six percent of RNs reported being unemployed. Three percent were not working either because of medical or family reasons, or were retired. Among RNs who had future plans to stay in the workforce, 63 percent said they plan to stay more than 10 years. Only 19 percent of RNs 34 years and younger planned to stop practicing in 10 years or less, a decline from 23 percent reported in (Graph F). Graph F Registered Nurses Future Plans to Practice (n=38,525), Minnesota % 6% 81% 88% 77% 76% 94% 19% 12% 23% 34 and younger 35 to to to and older 10 years or less more than 10 years Regardless of age, among the 18 percent who planned to leave the RN workforce in five years or less the reasons were as follows: retirement (77 percent), moving to another state (14 percent), changing jobs (4 percent), and other unspecified reasons (5 percent). Primary Work Settings and Activities RNs reported working an average of 34 hours a week and spent an average of 10 years working at their current location. Hospitals remain the most frequent place of employment for RNs (56 percent) followed by clinic/provider offices at 13 percent. Long-term care and home health/public health agencies were the third most frequent type of work setting at 9 percent each (Graph G). Page 4 April 2014

5 Minnesota s Registered Nurse Work Force Page 5 Graph G Primary Work Settings Among Registered Nurses (n=35,935), Minnesota % 1% 4% 4% 4% Hospital Clinic/provider office 9% Long-term care facility 9% 56% Home health agency/public health School College University Insurance Co./Rehab facility 13% Ambulatory/Surgical Center Independent Practice Other Hospital employment ranked highest for RNs in urban (57 percent), large rural (51 percent), and small and isolated areas (50 percent) of Minnesota. Clinic/provider offices were the second-most frequent practice setting for RNs in urban areas (13 percent) and large rural areas (12 percent), while long-term care facilities were second among RNs in small and isolated rural areas (15 percent). Registered nurses in small and isolated rural areas of Minnesota were also more likely to work in home health and/or public health agencies (12 percent) compared to RNs working in urban and large rural areas (7 and 10 percent respectively) (Graph H). Graph H Geographic Distribution of Registered Nurses by Primary Practice Setting (n=35,932), Minnesota % 51% 50% 13% 15% 12% 11% 12% 6% 7% 3% 5% 3% 4% 2% 0% 1% 0% 0% Hospital Clinic provider office Long-term care facility Home health/public health agency School College University Insurance Co/Rehab agency Urgent Care Urban Large Rural Small & Isolated Rural Page 5 April 2014

6 Minnesota s Registered Nurse Work Force Page 6 Eighty-three percent of RNs who reported practicing in hospitals worked in a single department while 17 percent said they worked in two and sometimes up to eight different departments. The most common departments were the medical/surgical unit (33 percent) followed by intensive care (17 percent), operating/recovery (14 percent), obstetric/gynecologic (12 percent), and the emergency room (12 percent). RNs were least likely to report practicing in the hospital s outpatient unit (8 percent) or psychiatric/behavioral department (6.5 percent). A greater percentage of RNs practicing in rural hospital settings reported working in 3 or more departments compared to RNs working in urban or large rural hospital settings, where working in a single department was more common (Graph I). Graph I Number of Departments in Which Registered Nurses Work, Minnesota % 79% 62% 3% 13% 15% 8% 23% Urban (n=17,249) Large Rural (n=2,478) Small Rural/Isolated (n=2,845) 1 department 2 departments 3 departments or more Most RNs reported spending their time providing patient care (60 percent). Supervising patient care was the next most frequently reported activity (24 percent), followed by teaching/research (14 percent), administration (12 percent), case management (11 percent) and telephone triage (11 percent). On average, an individual RN spent 52 percent of his or her time on the job providing patient care. Among 32,855 RNs who responded to a question about volunteering, only 11 percent said they volunteered their time providing nursing services in the last 12 months. The average amount of time spent volunteering was 63 hours over a 12 month period. A majority of RNs who volunteered were also employed (84 percent). i Data for this report was compiled using licensing data from the Minnesota Board of Nursing (BON) and the ORHPC workforce survey given to registered nurses at the time of their license renewal. Gender, age and geographic location originate from BON license data and reflect all licensed nurses with mailing addresses in Minnesota. Facts and figures containing race, ethnicity, education, future plans, employment status, practice site/activities, and hospital departments are drawn from the registered nurse survey and reflect only registered nurses who voluntarily completed the survey questions. ii This is the overall response rate among RNs with a Minnesota mailing address. Response rates for individual survey questions may vary. Survey results are subject to self-selection as well as non-response error, and may not be generalizable to the RN population in Minnesota. This limitation applies only to the MDH survey questions. iii License data from the Board of Nursing (BON) includes RNs with active licenses as of 2013 and a mailing address in Minnesota. iv Isolated and rural geographic areas of Minnesota are based on the Rural-Urban Commuting Areas (RUCAs) defined by United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. For more information, go to For more information, contact: Office of Rural Health and Primary Care Page 6 April 2014