Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1090681
24 NURSING SPOTLIGHT 50 states ranked by amount of active nurses By Mackenzie Bean C alifornia contains the most professionally active regis- tered nurses in the U.S., with 337,738 RNs, according to a ranking from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The ranking is based on October 2018 data compiled by Redi-Data from state licensing information, website submissions and surveys. The figures count professionally ac- tive nurses who work in and outside clinical settings. In total, nearly 3.4 million profes- sionally active RNs are working in the U.S., according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Here's how each state stacks up: California — 337,738 professionally active RNs Texas — 262,710 Florida — 248,709 Pennsylvania — 172,837 Ohio — 171,502 Illinois — 156,625 New York — 145,094 Michigan — 125,440 Georgia — 102,154 Massachusetts — 100,806 Indiana — 99,087 New Jersey — 98,631 Virginia — 90,939 Tennessee — 80,104 Missouri — 79,805 Minnesota — 77,381 North Carolina — 72,559 Maryland — 71,615 Alabama — 64,966 Colorado — 58,753 Kentucky — 58,666 Arizona — 55,176 Washington — 47,415 Connecticut — 45,261 Iowa — 43,391 Mississippi — 40,612 Oklahoma — 39,626 South Carolina — 36,792 Arkansas — 35,430 Louisiana — 33,793 Oregon — 31,239 Kansas — 29,047 Wisconsin — 27,856 Nevada — 25,181 Nebraska — 25,155 West Virginia — 22,448 Maine — 20,259 New Mexico — 19,545 Idaho — 18,234 Utah — 14,835 Rhode Island — 13,746 Montana — 13,050 South Dakota — 12,945 New Hampshire — 10,643 North Dakota — 9,167 Delaware — 8,842 Alaska — 7,924 Vermont — 7,801 Wyoming — 2,900 Hawaii — 2,481 n Massachusetts nurse stabbed by former patient urges hospital safety changes By Megan Knowles A nurse stabbed 11 times by a former patient at a Southbridge, Mass., hospital has traveled across the U.S. to speak before hospital CEOs and CNOs, de- manding action on improving hospital safety, ABC-affiliate TV station WCVB reported. "I'm trying to do everything I can to make people safer out there because more and more healthcare workers are getting hurt. e threat is real. e threat is becoming more frequent, and the threat is becoming more violent," Elise Wilson, RN, told the station. Aer 35 years on the job as a nurse, Ms. Wilson was attacked by the former patient in 2017, allegedly because he was unhappy with the care received at Harrington Hospital's emergency room three weeks before. Ms. Wilson still doesn't have use of her hand and has not been able to return to the ER. Since the attack, her former employer has installed metal detectors and given staff per- sonal, silent pocket alarms, Ms. Wilson said. "ese kinds of things are very easy to insti- tute," Ms. Wilson said. "If a small community hospital like Harrington can do this in three to four weeks time, bigger facilities can do it and they need to do it." e Massachusetts Nurses Association on Jan. 18 introduced two bills at the state House regarding workplace safety. e Massachusetts Health & Hospital Asso- ciation also said it is "filing legislation that will create statewide standards for evaluating and addressing security risks in hospitals, and ensure all hospitals activate workplace violence prevention programs based on those standards." n