Happy birthday, Florence Nightingale.

Considered the founder of modern nursing, this intelligent and dedicated lady paved the way for the profession, elevating what was once mere assistant, order-taker, and comfort giver to a compassionate career representing valuable skills, medical knowledge, and a role increasingly essential to a healthy society. They are the front line of patient care, outnumbering doctors four to one and generally spending the most time with patients so they notice things which lead to lives saved and pains spared. Like Nurse Nightingale, today's highly active registered nurses continue to blaze new trails at the forefront of healthcare issues and reforms. Three cheers for nurses everywhere on this International Nurses' Day.

Beyond relationships with patients and physicians, nurses have a laudable distinction: they are renowned worldwide for their professional approach to self-policing. This I learned in law school, when an aged professor who specialized in hospital and medical law told his students that among all the licensed professions - from plumbers and linemen to doctors and attorneys, it is the nurses who have the most procedurally advanced, most reliable, and most respected system of self-discipline and professional standards.

Perhaps that's why nurses are the most trusted profession in America, yet again. In December 2014 Americans placed them first. That's 13 firsts in the 14 years of a Gallup poll of professions, based on honesty and ethical standards.

As the largest component of American healthcare, with more than 3 million registered nurses at an average salary above $66,000 according to the American College of Nursing, only about half work in hospitals. The other half work in a wide variety of settings such as nursing homes, homeless shelters, prisons, schools, hospice care (in-home and at facilities), even football arenas. Nurses work unpredictable and crazy hours; treating patients airlifted in helicopters or camping in a forest.

Yet we don't have enough of them. Studies have repeatedly shown that patients fare worse with inadequate nursing staff. Nursing is projected to continue to be one of the biggest areas of job growth according to economists, due in part to increasing population and the aging of the boomer generation. On the other hand, the gap between high demand and insufficient supply of nurses continues to widen especially in hospital critical care and elder care facilities, according to the International Council of Nurses. Competition is increasing among healthcare employers for skilled registered nurses.

Registered nurses may have two- or four-year degrees (some intensive programs compress these into shorter time spans). According to the ACN, some RNs have Bachelor of Science degrees, but more have associate degrees. About 13 percent of nurses hold a Masters or Ph.D. in a specialty, such as nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives.

Projections indicate that by 2025, the U.S. nursing shortage will grow to more than 260,000 registered nurses. As health care continues to shift to more community-based primary and outpatient care, the U.S. Department of Labor predicts demand for RNs will climb by at least 36 percent in the next five years.

We've always needed them, and will need them more. Their skills, yes, but also their caring - this is a profession which is often emotional. So if you know a nurse, join me in saying "thank you!"

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.