Americans are starting to lose trust in their medical professionals, according to a recent survey.
The data analysts at Casinos En Ligne found that public trust in nurses, doctors, and pharmacists has dropped to its lowest mark in decades after falling dramatically over the past two years.
The survey, which was conducted by Gallup, asked 1,022 Americans to assess their level of trust for different professions.
Nurses topped the list of most trusted professions in the US with 79 percent of Americans saying that members of the profession had high levels of honesty and ethical standards.
Despite earning the No. 1 spot, public trust in nurses has fallen 11 percent since 2020, reaching lows that haven’t been seen since 2004.
Doctors (62 percent) and pharmacists (58 percent) were also among the most trusted professions but both fields are experiencing their lowest levels of trust in over 20 years.
Here are the highlights from the survey:
- America’s Trust in Nurses Drops By 11% Since 2020 To Lowest Rating Since 2004
- Nurses (79%), Doctors (62%), & Pharmacists (58%) Top List of Most Trusted Professions In America
- Americans Trust Car Salesmen (10%) More Than Members of Congress (9%)
- Car Salesmen (10%), Congressmen (9%) and Telemarketers (6%) Ranked Least Trusted Professions
America’s Trust in Nurses Drops By 11% Since 2020 To Lowest Rating Since 2004
Despite topping the list, nurses suffered one of the biggest declines in trust over the past two years.
In 2020, nurses garnered an ethics rating of 89 percent, but that number has since fallen to just 79 percent in 2022, a drop of more than 11 percent.
The ethics rating for medical doctors also decreased by 7.4 percent year-over-year, down from 67 percent in 2021 to 62 percent in 2022.
Meanwhile, pharmacists registered an ethics rating of 58 percent, the third-highest of any position on the list.
All three professions earned a significant bump in public trust during the COVID-19 pandemic but those ratings have now slid below pre-pandemic levels.
In fact, trust in America’s medical professions are beginning to reach new lows.
For pharmacists, the 58 percent ethics rating marks the lowest level of trust in four decades.
On the other hand, the ethics rating for medical doctors is at its lowest point since 1999.
Medical Professionals Top List of Most Trusted Professions In America
Despite the drop in confidence in medical professionals in the US, nurses, doctors, and pharmacists are still among the most trusted professions in America.
Nurses remain the most trusted profession in America, a position they’ve held for almost two decades.
79 percent of respondents said that nurses had a high level of honesty and ethical standards, according to the annual survey.
Doctors (62 percent) and pharmacists (58 percent) were the next-highest professions on the list, followed by high school teachers (53 percent) and police officers (50 percent).
Nurses have topped the list of America’s most trusted professions in every year except one since they were added to the annual ratings in 1999. That came in 2001 when firefighters earned a record-high 90 percent trust rating in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Members of Congress and Telemarketers Rank Among Least Trusted Professions In America
Americans trust their local car salesman more than Members of Congress.
In a survey of 1,022 American adults, only nine percent of respondents said that Members of Congress had high levels of honesty and ethical standards.
That number comes in slightly lower than car salesmen (10 percent) in terms of overall trust.
Telemarketers proved to be the least trusted profession in America with only 6 percent of respondents saying members of the profession had high levels of honesty and ethical standards.
Business executives (14 percent), lawyers (21 percent), and journalists (23 percent) were among the least trusted professions.
Overall, Americans had the most disdain for Members of Congress. 62 percent of respondents rated them with low levels of honesty and ethical standards, the highest of any profession in the group, followed by Telemarketers (59 percent), car salespeople (44 percent) and journalists (32 percent).
