Nurses can help reduce medical errors, promote wellness, increase efficiency and help hospitals cut costs. But rarely are they seen as important decision makers, not to mention, revenue generators as compared to doctors, according to a new survey from Gallup and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

When it comes to health care reform, nurses have a lot to offer, the survey found. Problem is, they're unlikely to have much influence compared to doctors and insurance and pharmaceutical executives. Seventy-five percent of people polled said government officials will have huge impact on health reform in the next five to ten years. Just 14 percent said nurses would.

"Nurses are highly trusted sources of health care information, but as we look to reform our health system, our nation is not taking advantage of all that nurses have to offer," said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in a statement. "This survey shows that opinion leaders recognize that we are squandering opportunities to learn from nurses and implement their ideas. We must build on the widespread trust of nurses’ expertise as an essential component in leading and implementing reform."

The foundation polled 1,500 people across health care industry, from insurance companies to university faculty for a look at nursing roles. We spoke a lot about that a few weeks ago in the post on depictions of nurses on TV. Well, this survey suggests some of those televised stereotypes are all too common in real life.

Nurses should work to make their voices heard, the report states. Likewise, nurses should be held accountable for taking a lead on health reform. What do you think?