DCI News

Jefferson City, Mo – National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6^th and ends on May 12^th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. To mark this year’s National Nursing Week, the Missouri State Board of Nursing and the and the University of Missouri Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis (OSEDA), School of Medicine Office of Rural Health and the Center for Health Policy (CHP) have published their first-ever Missouri Nursing Workforce Report.

Nurses are among the most respected professionals, not only for the care they provide, but, also for their compassion and humanity. They also constitute the largest single healthcare profession in the State of Missouri. This report provides policy makers with reliable data on Missouri’s nursing healthcare workforce. Nurses, nurse employers, educational institutions, policy makers and the public can now utilize this free resource. It will be especially useful for making decisions about resource allocations.

“I would like to thank our state legislators for approving legislation in 2016 that allows our board to collect and analyze workforce data,” said Lori Scheidt, MBA-HCM, executive director. “The board of nursing and the University of Missouri Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis worked diligently to develop this report, which should make is easier for nurses, educators, employers and policy makers to better understand the demographics and work location of nurses. We are already planning for our next report, which should include more refined data on race and ethnicity, as well as further geographical analysis on Missouri’s nursing workforce.”

The mission of the Missouri State Board of Nursing is to protect the public's health and safety through regulation of nursing education, licensure, and practice.