Nurses on Boards: The Time Has Come

Nearly 18% of the United States' gross national product presently is devoted to healthcare, and for many years, the rate of growth has exceeded other sectors of our nation's economy. However, landmark studies by the Institute of Medicine, the Commonwealth Fund, and other organizations have demonstrated that—despite our large investment of resources in healthcare—the United States lags behind other industrialized countries on multiple metrics of population health such as infant mortality and life expectancy.1 Moreover, there is strong evidence of disparities around our country in access, cost, and quality of healthcare services.2