Just a Nurse, or a Bedside Leader? Mental Models Can Be Changed

If you haven’t read the Viewpoint column in the March issue of AJN, “Just a Nurse, or a Bedside Leader?“, we recommend it. The author, Amy Constanzo, director of nursing administration at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, puts into eloquent words one of the central “unthought knowns” in the daily experience of many nurses. Constanzo writes:

“Despite the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing report that calls for nurses to be ‘full partners, with physicians and other health professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States,’ the mental model of ‘just a nurse’ is still out there, inhibiting potential.”

But she’s not pessimistic. She believes “just a nurse” is a mental model like any other, and mental models can be changed—but only if you make it your quest to do so. Constanzo proposes an alternative mental model for nurses: “I am a nurse.” On the surface, it’s a simple statement, but it’s also, she believes, a statement of both strength and possibility:

“When you say ‘I am a nurse,’ you are claiming the values of nursing and your contribution to assisting patients in achieving their best level of health. To do so requires a clear vision of nursing as a profession and of nurses’ contribution to the health care team.”

How do you describe your work as a nurse—to yourself, and to others?

2017-03-03T13:18:26-05:00March 3rd, 2017|Nursing, nursing perspective|2 Comments
Read More

Some Notes on Miss Colorado’s ‘I’m Just a Nurse’ Speech

By Amanda Anderson, a critical care nurse and graduate student in New York City currently doing a graduate placement at AJN.

I’m a sucker for beauty pageants. There’s something about the old-fashioned simplicity that fascinates me. While Miss America is, at its roots, a generous scholarship program, it’d be hard for me to say that I tune in for anything other than the sparkle and style.

With that said, I still love a Miss Congeniality angle, which this year’s Miss Colorado seemed to proffer in a much-praised speech. Similar to Sandra Bullock’s character, Gracie Lou Freebush, Kelley Johnson’s nurse-specific monologue was both engaging and educational. But her talent struck a little closer to home—she used the phrase “I’m just a nurse.”

Her two-minute speech won her a second-runner-up prize, as well as millions of hits online. But what did it get us nurses?

Sure, all PR for our profession is great, but the age-old, ubiquitous slur that served as the tagline for much of Ms. Johnson’s monologue makes a lot of us uneasy. Although Ms. Johnson very skillfully ended her monologue by refuting her initial proclamation, the public expression of it deserves a second look.

“Just a nurse” is not a new phrase to our profession; a brief scroll through Tumblr will do more than update the casual viewer. However, most of us steer away from association with the phrase; it discredits, it’s a conversation killer, and it has long been seen as a sarcastic way […]

2016-11-21T13:02:00-05:00September 15th, 2015|career, Nursing, nursing perspective|4 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Go to Top