The Power of Nurses: Celebrating a Profession that Powers American Healthcare
Every year during Nurses Week (May 6-12), we pause to recognize the dedication, expertise, and compassion that nurses bring to every shift. This year’s theme, “The Power of Nurses,” is a fitting tribute to a profession that holds healthcare together, not just at the bedside, but at every point along the continuum of care.
Nursing in America: A Profession Like No Other
Nursing is the largest healthcare profession in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurses now represent more than 50% of the entire U.S. health workforce. There are approximately 4.77 million actively licensed registered nurses in the country, and the BLS projects roughly 189,100 new RN job openings every year through 2034, driven by both growing demand and the wave of retirements already underway.
To become a registered nurse, candidates complete two to six years of education, earning either an Associate Degree in Nursing or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing before passing the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN). That is just the beginning. Most nurses continue building their credentials through specialty certifications, graduate-level degrees, and mandatory continuing education throughout their careers. In fact, more than 70% of RNs now hold a baccalaureate degree or higher. The commitment to learning never stops.
And the public notices. For the 25th consecutive year, nurses have been ranked the most honest and ethical profession in America, according to Gallup’s annual Honesty and Ethics poll conducted in December 2025. Three in four Americans, 75%, rate nurses’ ethical standards as “very high” or “high,” placing them well ahead of every other profession surveyed, including physicians, pharmacists, and military officers. In a time when trust across nearly all professions is at or near historic lows, nursing’s sustained hold on the top spot speaks volumes.
Long-Term Care Nursing: Where the Challenge Runs Deepest
Nurses work across nearly every setting in American healthcare. Among the most demanding of those settings is long-term care, and the pressure there is intensifying.
By 2030, every Baby Boomer will be 65 or older, accounting for one in five Americans. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), that demographic wave is already outpacing the long-term care workforce’s ability to scale. In 2026, approximately 8% of U.S. nursing demand is going unmet nationally. HRSA projects the national RN shortage will reach 10% by 2027, and projections indicate a shortfall of more than 250,000 registered nurses by 2030. Long-term care, skilled nursing facilities, and home health settings bear the heaviest burden of those gaps.
The 2026 U.S. News Best Nursing Homes rankings make the stakes clear. Of the more than 15,000 long-term and skilled rehabilitation facilities in the United States, approximately 12,000 fell short of providing the highest-quality care, largely due to staffing shortages. And according to AHCA/NCAL’s 2026 Workforce Report, nine in ten LTC providers still find recruitment difficult, even as facilities added more than 40,700 jobs in 2025.
LTC nurses carry high patient assignments, navigate complex medication regimens, and meet strict regulatory requirements, often with fewer support resources than their hospital counterparts. Beyond the clinical load, they also carry something harder to quantify: the relationship with residents who depend on them not just medically, but personally.
As Deborah Sisk, RN, MSN/MHA, Senior Client Success Manager at Clarest, puts it plainly: “Long-term care nurses are expected to handle very high patient assignments, which leave them little time to make connections and look at the bigger picture. Nurses have become absorbed by med passes, and that is only a very small part of bedside nursing in long-term care.”
The patients these nurses serve are not just residents. They are someone’s parent, grandparent, or lifelong friend. The power of an LTC nurse lives in the relationships built, the early warning signs caught, and the quiet advocacy delivered every single day.
A Differentiated Model, by Design
Through its Remedi and ProCare divisions, Clarest serves skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and independent living facilities across the country. The organization provides advanced pharmacy solutions including the PAXIT® medication administration system, 24/7 customer service, STAT deliveries within four hours, dedicated pharmacy liaisons, and seamless integration with major electronic health record providers. These services are designed to take operational pressure off the facility and give frontline nursing teams more time to focus on what matters most: resident care.
John Below, Director of Account Management, Pharmacy Services, explains, “Our Nurse Account Manager approach places clinical credibility front and center in the customer relationship. Many organizations can promise deliveries and customer service. Few can place licensed clinicians at the forefront of the relationship. By having registered nurses lead these relationships, decisions are more likely to be informed by what is safest, most effective, and most beneficial for the residents we both serve.”
What many LTC facilities do not always see is the network of clinical professionals working behind the scenes to help them succeed.
The nurses who bring those services to life are not working from a corporate office. They are on the road, on the floor, and on the phone with the very facilities and nurses they support.
Clarest Nurse Account Managers and Client Success Managers visit facilities on a regular cadence, conducting medication cart audits, running medication pass in-services, identifying non-compliant items before a state surveyor does, and troubleshooting everything from missing medications to workflow inefficiencies. They sit across from Directors of Nursing and listen. They serve as a direct line between the facility and the pharmacy, translating clinical needs into pharmacy solutions and carrying the voice of frontline staff back to the people who can act on it.
What makes this work different is who is doing it. These are registered nurses with years of bedside and leadership experience in long-term care. They are not visiting as vendors. They are showing up as clinical partners who understand the weight of what LTC nurses carry every single shift.
The Nurses Behind the Scenes
Bambi Sorensen, RN, Nurse Account Manager, knows what it means to be on both sides of care. As the parent of a child with complex medical needs, including a tracheostomy, feeding tube, and wheelchair dependence, she did not just choose nursing as a career. She chose it because she had already lived it.
“Nursing is about supporting the patient and their family. It is not just about completing tasks or conducting audits,” Bambi says. Today, she travels to facilities across her region, conducting medication storage and medication pass in-services, auditing medication carts, and ensuring staff have the education and resources they need. When a Director of Nursing called about a resident’s medication that had not yet arrived, Bambi coordinated directly with the pharmacy to get it rerouted in time. “It makes me realize how much our work behind the scenes directly impacts patient care and supports the nurses,” she says.
Her message to the facilities she serves is heartfelt: “The pharmacy works hard to make sure medications are available for residents in a timely manner. Our goal is to support nurses so they can focus on patient care, knowing that we are all working together as one team.”
Cheryl Barr, RN, Account Manager, came to Clarest after a career in senior leadership in acute care. What drew her was the organization’s transparency, its forward-thinking approach to medication management, and the opportunity to make an impact in a setting where it is often most needed. In her role, no two days look the same. She visits facilities on a regular cadence, spending focused time with frontline staff to walk through audit processes, address non-compliant items, and create space for open dialogue.
Reflecting on this year’s theme, Cheryl says, “The Power of Nurses is about influence and impact. It is about showing up each day with the knowledge, empathy, and dedication to make a difference, both in individual lives and within the broader healthcare system.”
Her impact has been concrete. After conducting a comprehensive audit at one assisted living facility, the location underwent a state survey and received no pharmacy-related findings. Surveyors specifically noted how well the medication carts were maintained, and the Director of Nursing personally called to thank her. “Knowing that my work helped the team feel prepared and confident during a high-stakes moment was incredibly rewarding,” she says.
Deborah Sisk, RN, MSN/MHA, Senior Client Success Manager, brings something rare to her work: an entire career in long-term care, from nursing assistant to Director of Nursing. That depth of experience informs every facility visit she makes today.
“Knowledge is power,” Deborah says. “Knowledge empowers nurses to be competent and to exercise prudent, critical thinking.” As a Client Success Manager, she serves as a direct bridge between facilities and the pharmacy, spending time with frontline nurses to understand where the pressure points are, then working with the Clarest team to address them.
Her advice to every LTC facility she supports: “Don’t be silent. We take pride in our work, we want to know, and we always want to do better. Please share frustrations and challenges so that we can affect change and provide the very best pharmacy support.”
And her message to fellow nurses this Nurses Week: “Nurses are the backbone of the long-term care industry, and our value is often overlooked. We make a difference daily in the lives we are entrusted with by making connections with patients, becoming their extended family, and providing whatever assistance is necessary to support their highest level of function and happiness.”
The Power of Nurses, Extended
The power of nurses is not confined to a single setting, a single shift, or a single week. As Sisk explains, “Nursing, when done right, is like trying to put together a giant puzzle to form the whole picture.” It is detailed, relentless, and deeply personal work.
Barr captures what that power truly looks like in practice: “Nursing power isn’t just in the care we provide. It’s in the trust we build, the voices we amplify for our patients, and the critical thinking we bring to complex situations every day.”
At Clarest, we are proud to have nurses who carry that same purpose into every facility visit, every audit, and every conversation with a frontline team that needs a partner, not just a pharmacy.
To all nurses everywhere, we echo Sorensen’s sentiment: “I want to say thank you. Your dedication, compassion, and hard work make a real difference each and every day, even when it goes unseen.”
Interested in learning how Clarest supports long-term care facilities with pharmacy services, medication management, and clinical expertise? https://clarest.com/ltc-pharmacy-services/