As a nurse for many years, and one of the baby boomers that will be retiring in(hopefully) 10 more years, I am very concerned who will take care of me when I need care! My views may be a little radical, but the easy part is to actively encourage younger people to the best and most stable profession there is. But, we as current nurses are the ones that have caused this shortage. How many of your co-workers have said they would never encourage their children to become nurses? Or have treated students on the floor like like flies that need to be swatted? Or how many nurses have to have multiple initials after their names to justify,what they believe to be, a vision of their professionalism. To be a professional nurse we need to realize that this is a hard dirty and sometimes objectionable profession. Plumbers deal with the dirtiest part of our life, but they are paid well and when they go home they know that few people can do what they do and fewer still will be paid for a job that few will do!! So why do nurses insist on thinking themselves more than what they are rather than showing everyone that what we do is more important than what anyone does in health care. If we take total care of our patients, give them advice based on our education and our experience,and less on our emotions and passion we will be much more effective practitioners. Nursing is a very unique profession, it is highly specialized and take a level of commitment seldom seen in most other professions. So we need to make that the center of our profession. We need to keep our passions and emotions in check and show the public and others we work with that we are the best to take care of them because of our highly skilled, and specialized training. Caring is not enough, selected caring is even less than enough.
Posted by: Timothy at 8/20/2008 3:49:58 PM

Timothy, thanks for the great comment. Finding that happy medium between emotion and science is a challenge for all of us. I agree that we need to be more supportive of our own profession (for it's positives and negatives). As we see more challenges in facilities in terms of quality care and standards, it is truly evident that the nurse is the anchor in the entire process. Without more nurses, given the tools they need to succeed, healthcare will not improve. ---Karen
Posted by: Karen at 8/21/2008 9:26:14 AM

I think that being a great mentor while working on the floor can make or break a new nurse or nursing student. Too often I've heard horror stories from newbies and it's really disillusioned them. I look forward to my first NP student so that I can help them as much as some of my first mentors did. I'm thinking of asking to speak at the local high school now that the new school year has started. Can't wait! Cheers from The Nurse Practitioner's Place www.arnp.blogspot.com
Posted by: Jennifer at 8/22/2008 4:14:18 PM

Jennifer, your comments hits the nail on the head. Mentoring new graduates on the floor, or working positively with nursing students in your setting can make a difference in their overall vision of the practice. And, with a great experience from someone like you, we hope they will "pay it forward" with another new nurse. Thanks for the comment.
Posted by: Karen at 8/25/2008 10:50:03 AM