TRUSTED PROFESSIONALS Nurses beat out pharmacists and doctors as the most-trusted profession, according to a new Gallup poll.

The public continues to trust nurses more than any other profession, including doctors, according to a new poll from Gallup.

In the survey asking the public to rank the honesty and ethics of various professions, Americans overwhelmingly voted nurses to the top of the list. The profession has held the honor for 14 straight years, according to the American Nurse Association (ANA).

About 85% of respondents rated nurses' honesty and ethical standards as "very high" or "high," which was 17 percentage points higher than the next closest profession, pharmacists. Coming in at No. 3 were medical doctors, with 67% of respondents calling them honest and ethical. Lobbyists placed dead last, with just 7% of the public considering them trustworthy.

"It's essential that we leverage this trust to lead and implement change in the healthcare system," says Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president of the ANA in a statement. "Hospitals, healthcare systems and other organizations are lacking an important perspective and can't make fully competent decisions if they don't have registered nurses at the board table or in the C-suite."

Kendal Gapinski