Samples and Data Collection (graded)

Discussion Post Reply

Hello class,

 In 2018 the results in The National Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) revealed the following: the size of the workforce for Registered Nurses living within the United States. Not only was this survey geared towards how many Registered Nurses lived in the US but, how many other attributes and characteristics as well. The attributes and characteristics included but not limited to: The year of graduation, Age, Race, and Ethnicity, Nursing education- the highest Nursing and Nursing -related education attainable, Distribution of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Licenses, Distribution of full time/part time employment by age group, Distribution of employment setting by sex, Telehealth in the workplace, Telehealth usage by RNs, Median full-time earnings by sex, Median full time earnings by degree type and median full-time earnings by advanced practice type. The findings may be a little surprising solely because they are obtainable only if the person completes the survey and only if they are truthful and non-biased with their answers. There is an estimate of 504,000,000 Registered Nurses that live in the United States in the year 2017, of those 83% worked in a nursing related field. although the survey shows that the average age of an RN is 50. 53% were younger than the average age of 50. The survey also shows that men and minority groups show a slight increase in the RN population. The survey further revealed that the RNs that completed the survey 63,9% had a college degree and of those mentioned 19.3% had either a master’s degree or an Advanced Nurse Practice certification. These groups attributed to 11.5% of the nursing workforce. The telehealth capabilities in the nursing workplace were only 32.9% with only 50,3% of the nurses using the telehealth in their perspective practices. as for wages the median for a full time RN was $73,929.000 while the median for a parttime RN was $39,985.000.

      When the survey looked at cultural diversity it revealed that Caucasian Non-Hispanics were the largest group of RNs with this being (ex73.3%), the next largest group of RNs was Hispanics (10.2%), Blacks Non-Hispanics (7.8%), Asian Non-Hispanics (5.2%) and last but not least Multiracial RNs at (1.7%). (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,2019. p.4-5). As we take a look at educational requirements it as found that literally 48.5% of RNs had an associate degree followed by 39.3% with a bachelor’s degree followed by 11.4% having a Diploma or other and 0.9% with a graduate degree.
    
       The one thing that I found to be so interesting is the earnings by degree type and the type of Advanced Practices that yields the most money. According to the survey a full time RN without a degree earns $69,663.000 while an RN with a graduate degree can earn $95,804.00.0 It showed how full-time earnings went up by at least $5,000.00 from a Nurse Practitioner to a Certified Nurse Specialist to a Nurse Midwife then on to a Nurse Anesthetist with that last rate jump to about $60,000.000, How impressive is that? I am not actually sure what the criteria is to obtain these degrees or certifications but, the monetary incentives alone are enough to make the RN want to obtain a higher level of education or an advanced practice certification. However, it is not always about the money, I must say to obtain a higher degree or certification would all ow me personally to make better decisions for my patient health and welfare. 

       The tools and instruments we use to collect data need to be both reliable and valid. Being Reliable means that something is consistent and can be reproduced and /or duplicated with the results remaining the same. The validity of something means that the results are accurate and truthful without bias. We must ask did the tools and/or instruments that we used produce the desired affect that they promised it would produce? I have to say reliability and validity go hand in hand, because when you are collecting data for a given purpose, one should expect and hope that the results of their findings can be duplicate and are truthful in nature.

       The survey used a questionnaire by means of mail, phone, online, or a paper form. Although all of these are somewhat familiar to me, I had to question how valid and reliable can a questionnaire really be? A questionnaire is only reliable and valid if the person completing the questionnaire has answered it truthfully and honestly. It can range from totally truthful to a person just voicing their opinion, an opinion that is theirs and theirs alone. I guess the question really is how is one to know? Well, I am glad you asked because this brings us right back to our original question of are the results reproducible and able to be duplicated and can the results be verified. 

 ( Nannette)

References:

Department of Health and Human Services (2019) Brief summary of results from 2018 national sample and survey of registered nurses. 
https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/data-research/nssrn-summary-report.pdf
Links to an external site.

Washington D.C. National Academics Press (US) ; 2011 The Future of Nursing: Leading change, Advancing Health. PMID; 24983041

Chamberlain College of Nursing (2020). NR439.61213: Week 5 Lesson: Samples and Data Collection  Downers grove, IL: Online Publication.