Registered Nurse Survey 2007 (download pdf file)

Summary & Introduction | Registered Nurse Population

Registered Nurses in Hawaii | Active Registered Nurses | Generational Cohorts

Retention & Workplace | Survey Questionnaire

Active Registered Nurses Working in Positions Requiring a License / Knowledge

The frequency distribution in Table 6 shows that 4,986 (88%) of RNs are ‘active’ and
working in a position requiring an RN license and knowledge, 279 (4.9%) reported they were retired, 206 (3.6%) were working in non-nursing jobs either looking or not looking for an RN position. 184 (3.4%) reported to be not employed and either looking for a RN position, non-nursing job or not looking for a job.

Table 7: Registered Nurses in Hawaii Working in a Position Requiring an RN License

Location of Basic Nursing Education
Out of the 4,986 active RNs reported to be working in a position requiring an RN license or knowledge, 505 (10%) received their basic nursing education in a foreign country, 1,914 (38%) from another state or US territory, and 2,567 (52%) were educated here in the State of Hawaii.

Table 8: Location of Basic Nursing Education for RNs Working in Hawaii

Age and Gender of Respondents Working in a Position Requiring RN
License in Hawaii Out of the 4,986 active respondents working a position requiring an RN license/knowledge, the average age was 44.35 (±11.3) with a minimum age of 22 and maximum of 84 years. 89% were identified as female and 11% male.

Nursing Educational Background
Respondents working with an RN license / knowledge revealed their nursing educational backgrounds vary and numerous respondents have graduated from a number of nursing programs. 19.7% reported to have a Diploma in Nursing, 27.5% Associate Degree nursing, Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing 58.8%, Master Degree Nursing 11.2%, MS other 3.7%, PhD nursing .3%, and PhD other .Twenty-nine respondents (.6%) reported to have an APRN license including Nurse Practitioner .2%, Clinical Nurse Specialist .2%, Nurse Midwife .02%, Nurse Anesthetist .02%, Nurse Educator .04%, and Nurse Administrator/ Management .14%.

Changes in Residency 2006, 2007, and 2008
Respondent were asked to identify their residential (home) address ‘one year ago’ (2006) and ‘where they expect to be one year from now’ (2008). Out of the 4,986 respondents currently living and working in Hawaii, 2.4% (118) were living outside the state in 2006 and only .04% (2) expect to live outside the state in 2008.

Number of Employers
The majority of nurse respondents 3,885 (78%) reported they had only one employer. 787 (16%) reported having two employers and 228 (5%) reported three employers as shown in Table 9.

Table 9: Number of Employers

Table 10 identifies that 33% of respondents have worked for their primary employer for at least 10 or more years, 21% reported working for their primary employer for 1-3 years, and 18% reported working for their primary employer for at least 5 years, but less than 10 years.

Table 10: Number of Years in Principle Place of RN Employment

Employment Settings of Registered Nurses
As shown in Table 11, 62% of respondents report working in the hospital setting, 6% in long term care, 5% ambulatory care, and 7% in some other setting.

Table 11: Healthcare Sector of Primary RN Employment

Activity / Role of Position of Principle RN Employment
As shown in Figure 2, 68% described the activity / role in their primary position as patient care’. 11% described their role as ‘administration’, 7% ‘case management’, and 6%‘teaching/instruction’.

Figure 2: Activity / Role that Best Describes RN Position

Average Hours worked per Week as a Licensed Registered Nurse
As shown in Figure 3, 85% of the RN respondents reported working 30 hours or more per week in positions requiring an RN license / knowledge. 14% reported working less than 30 hours per week.

Figure 3: Average Hours Worked per Week as a Registered Nurse

Distribution of Working Registered Nurses by County
Out of the 4,986 (88%) RN respondents living and working in a position requiring RN
license/ knowledge in Hawaii, 73% live and work in the City & County of Honolulu, 12% in Hawaii County, 10% Maui County, and 4% Kauai County.

Figure 4: Frequency Distribution of Working RNs by County

Representativeness of RN Workforce to Community Populations
Tables 12–15 provide comparative estimates of the representativeness of the RN workforce to the population in each County according to US Census Bureau 2006 data.

In Table 12, the RN workforce has a greater percentage of females compared to the
population. Asian and Caucasian representation is larger than population figures. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders are proportionally lower than the community.

Table 12: Comparison of Honolulu City & County RN Workforce Data and 2006 US Census Bureau Population by Gender and Racial / Ethnicity

Table 13 reveals that in Hawaii County the RN workforce has a greater percentage of females compared to the population. Caucasian’s represented in the RN workforce is greater than the county population. Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders are proportionally lower than the community.

Table 13: Comparison of Hawaii County RN Workforce Data and 2006 US Census Bureau Population by Gender and Racial / Ethnicity

Table 14 reveals that in Kauai County the RN workforce has a greater percentage of females compared to the population. Caucasian’s represented in the RN workforce is greater than the county population. Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders are proportionally lower than the community.

Table 14: Comparison of Kauai County RN Workforce Data and 2006 US Census Bureau Population by Gender and Racial / Ethnicity

Table 15 reveals that in Maui County the RN workforce has a greater percentage of females compared to the population. Caucasian’s represented in the RN workforce is greater than the county population. Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders are proportionally lower than the community.

Table 15: Comparison of Maui County RN Workforce Data and US Census Bureau Population by Gender and Racial / Ethnicity