Amplifying the Voices Missing from Healthcare’s Most Important Conversations
By Kate Karlsson, Healthcare Communications & PR Strategist
LinkedIn: Kate Morin Karlsson
Nurses are missing from healthcare’s most important conversations. Despite being the largest healthcare workforce and spending the most time with patients, nurses account for a mere 2% of healthcare media citations.
I didn’t fully grasp the depth of this problem until I stood at a unique intersection: I’d spent a decade as an ICU nurse, traveling across the US caring for critically ill patients. Then I transitioned into healthcare PR and communications, representing companies and executives by connecting them with journalists, securing speaking opportunities, and positioning their expertise in the public eye.
Standing at the intersection of these two worlds, an uncomfortable truth emerged: nurses were virtually invisible in the healthcare media landscape.
A Simple Idea to Increase the Visibility of Nurses
Part of my role involves keeping a pulse on media requests. Journalists regularly put out calls seeking experts to interview for their articles, and I’ve gotten used to seeing various requests for healthcare commentary. For years, I’d occasionally notice requests specifically seeking nurses, but since they often weren’t relevant to my clients, I’d just scroll past them.
But what I couldn’t ignore was the overwhelming pattern: the vast majority of media requests asked specifically for doctors, even when the topic was something nurses were uniquely positioned to speak about. Patient education? Ask a doctor. Chronic disease management? Doctor. Medication adherence? Doctor.
I started thinking: I’m connected to hundreds of nurses through my network. Many of them are brilliant, articulate, and have perspectives that could genuinely enrich these stories. What if I just posted these requests on my page to see if anyone was interested in speaking on the record? It seemed like a relatively low-lift way to give back to the profession that shaped me.
In the Fall of 2025, I started doing exactly that, sharing media opportunities with nurses in my network, connecting them directly with journalists who were actively seeking nurse voices.
The Data Behind the Pattern
It was only after I committed to this effort that I discovered just how deep the problem runs.
I came across the Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media—landmark research conducted in 1997 that analyzed healthcare news coverage and found nurses were cited as sources in only 4% of stories, despite being the largest segment of the healthcare workforce and spending more time with patients than any other provider.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the study was repeated in 2017 to see if any improvements had been made, and the number had dropped further to a paltry 2%.
Suddenly, what I’d been observing anecdotally had data to back it up. Nurses weren’t just underrepresented, they were nearly erased from the public conversation about healthcare.
Why the Gap Exists
This massive visibility gap isn’t accidental. There are real, systemic reasons why nurses remain in the shadows:
- Sourcing defaults that elevate physicians and executives as expert voices
- Institutional gatekeeping that routes media requests away from frontline clinicians
- Outdated role perceptions that frame nurses as helpers rather than authorities
- Gender bias in whose expertise is amplified
- Historically unavailable media training for nurses
Understanding these barriers fueled my commitment. This wasn’t just about making a few connections in my spare time; this was about confronting a fundamental inequity in how healthcare stories get told.
Taking it One Step Further
Armed with this knowledge, I evolved my approach. I didn’t just share requests looking for nurses, I started pitching nurses for requests that asked for doctors, especially when the topic fell squarely within nursing expertise. Each pitch became an opportunity to educate journalists about what nurses actually do and know.
I’ve been fortunate to partner with organizations that share this vision. Collette Health and Healthcare NOW Radio stepped up to sponsor and amplify these opportunities because they, too, believe in the power and necessity of nurse voices in public discourse. This work can’t be done alone, and their support is the first critical step in turning this grassroots effort into a sustainable movement.
Proof of Concept
Nurses to the Mic has been live for a few months now, and the results have been exciting. I’ve connected upwards of 25 nurses with journalists from outlets including Medscape, Daily Mail, and Healthline. These connections have resulted in published articles covering critical topics:
- Workplace violence in healthcare settings
- GLP-1 prescriptions and patient education
- Immunotherapy and patient experience
- Diabetes education and management
Each article represents a shift in the narrative; proof that when given the platform, nurses have vital perspectives that enrich how we understand healthcare.
I’m continuing to connect nurses with media opportunities, but I’m also focused on building sustainable infrastructure. That’s why I’ve partnered with organizations like Nurses in the Media, founded by Rachel Malloy, which offers media training specifically designed for nurses. These courses help nurses understand what to expect when talking to journalists, how to prepare for interviews, and how to communicate complex clinical concepts to general audiences.
Nurses don’t need to become different people to be effective media sources. They need tools, training, and opportunities. They need someone to open doors that have historically been closed to them.
Visibility Equals Influence
The invisibility of nurses in healthcare media is a public health issue. When the voices of frontline caregivers are absent from conversations about healthcare policy, patient safety, and clinical innovation, we all lose. Patients lose the perspectives of the professionals who spend the most time at their bedsides. Policymakers lose insight from the workforce experiencing healthcare delivery firsthand. And nurses lose the opportunity to shape the future of their own profession.
I’m excited to continue this advocacy. Every nurse I connect with a journalist, every article that centers nursing expertise, every journalist who learns to seek out nurse voices, it all chips away at that invisibility.
There’s so much work to do, but I’m optimistic. I’ve seen what happens when nurses get the mic: they don’t just speak—they transform the conversation.
Want to be part of this movement? Follow Kate Karlsson on LinkedIn and watch for Nurses to the Mic posts. Whether you’re interested in speaking to journalists yourself or know a nurse who should be in the spotlight, these posts are one gateway to amplifying nurse voices in healthcare media.
