The Power of Nurses

For 130 years, the American Nurses Association (ANA) has served as the leading voice for the nation’s nurses, advancing the profession and improving healthcare through advocacy, standards, education and leadership.
Nurses occupy a distinctive place in American life. In 2026, they were ranked the nation’s most trusted profession for the 24th consecutive year. Yet trust has not translated into proportional visibility, influence or respect. Nurses remain underrepresented in media and public discourse, where their work is too often viewed through the lens of compassion alone or framed around shortages, burnout and crisis, rather than the expertise, leadership and measurable outcomes they deliver every day.
The Power of Nurses® was created to close that perception gap. Rather than promoting ANA, the campaign positions the association as a convener and amplifier of nurses’ stories, using vivid, outcomes-based storytelling to give audiences a fuller understanding of who nurses are, what they do and how they shape healthcare.
The campaign was designed to reach the American public broadly, while also engaging policymakers, healthcare leaders, partners and communities whose perceptions and decisions influence the profession. Nurses themselves are central to the campaign, not simply as an audience, but as participants and storytellers. Their experiences fuel an expanding national library of stories designed to redefine nursing around skill, leadership, innovation and impact.