Takeaway
Nursing is America’s most trusted profession, but nurses appear in only 2% of health media quotations. Doctors can help amplify their impact by recommending nurses for media communication roles and supporting them more as valued partners.
Lifelong learning in clinical excellence | June 1, 2026 | 2 min read
By Maureen Flood, MA, MSN, AGPCNP, CRNP, Johns Hopkins Medicine
The public has been telling us for over 20 years that they trust nurses more than any other profession, as highlighted in a recent article in the “New England Journal of Medicine.” Nonetheless, traditional and new media continue to overlook this potential public health powerhouse.
The most trusted profession is being ignored
The article cited the Woodhull Study, which found that “Nurses were identified as the source of only 2% of quotes . . . and were never sourced in stories on health policy.” Among “Top 10” lists of medical blogs and podcasts, there’s a clear absence of content hosted by or primarily focused on nurses. In a time of unprecedented health disinformation, the media continues to lean on physicians as sources, making little headway while systematically sidelining nurses’ voices.
Why the messenger matters
For messages to land, both the content and the messenger must be compelling. Nurses connect with patients in ways doctors often cannot. Patients see nurses as more relatable—people who understand the everyday realities of being ill, poor, or lonely. Since many health choices are driven by group identity rather than abstract reasoning—nurses’ “one of us” status gives them real influence.
In other scientific disciplines, science communicators like “Physics Girl” Dianna Cowern, Raven “The Science Maven” Baxter, Ally Ward, and Phil Torres are successful due to their keen ability to translate the experts into meaningful information for listeners—a skill nurses practice with patients daily. While physicians are the leading experts in most health domains, technical knowledge alone may be insufficient criteria; adding nurses to the cadre of messengers will broaden the reach and deepen the impact of messaging.
Institutional barriers
Addressing this requires both institutional and grassroots action. Nurses aren’t offered media training, aren’t routinely recommended by their institutions as experts, and may be hesitant due to a lack of career safety. Given the many high-profile cases of nurses losing their jobs and being blacklisted for speaking to the media about patient and staff safety issues, many are hesitant to speak out.
How to address this imbalance:
1. Health systems
Health systems should invest in media-communication training for nurses, create rosters of trained nurse experts available for the media, and adopt policies that protect nurses who speak truthfully about their experiences.
2. Physician allies
Allies can help by nominating nurses as experts for media appearances and taking part in joint statements, briefings, and panels that elevate nursing voices.
3. Nurses
Nurses can build their own patient-focused platforms—blogs, podcasts, social media accounts, or websites—to share expertise, counter disinformation, and advocate for better care.
Nurses are trusted, expert communicators of health science. With better training, institutional support, and more visible platforms, nursing can play a far larger role in public health communication—and bring evidence to the people who need it most.
This piece expresses the views solely of the author. It does not necessarily represent the views of any organization, including Johns Hopkins Medicine.