Recognizing the Value of Nurses, Health Care’s Often Silent Majority

“Inspire. Innovate. Influence.” That’s the theme the American Nurses Association set for this year’s Nurses Week. But for much of our recent history, however, nurses have not been considered particularly influential or innovative—despite the fact that during the 19th and early 20th centuries, nurses organized hospital systems (Isabel Hampton Robb), designed the public health system and implemented school nursing and community-based care (Lillian Wald), and demonstrated improved outcomes (Mary Breckenridge).

Somehow, as health care became more technology and intervention focused, we were relegated into the “background”—the silent majority at the point of care, but rarely the ones consulted on strategies and planning decisions. (My take: we didn’t directly bring in the revenue to support the higher cost of high-tech care.)

A dawning realization that nurses matter.

But I feel things are changing. Organizations whose goals were driven by quality care began to shift perspective when it became clear that nurses made a big difference in whether those goals could be realized. And as government and insurance reimbursements became increasingly tied to quality, safety, efficiency, and patient satisfaction with care, nurses began to matter even more. We’ve also come to realize that our costly health care system is not meeting the needs for too many Americans.

Now nurses are more visible than ever before. RNs in many areas, from acute and critical […]

2018-05-04T09:05:32-04:00May 4th, 2018|Nursing|0 Comments
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What a Nurse Really Wants

Lois Corcoran, BSN, PCCN, is pursuing a master of science in nursing degree and works on a cardiac step-down unit. Although Nurses Week recently ended, we felt that this short, honest post sums up the way a lot of nurses seem to feel.

via flickr creative commons/by you me via flickr creative commons/by you me

I have been a nurse for 18 years. I went to nursing school when I was 33 years old, a year after I’d completed treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma. I was a single mom, newly divorced, trying to make my way.

Becoming a nurse felt like my calling. I was passionate about it. I had been through so much, and I knew I had a lot to give back—I wanted to be with patients, holding their hands, giving them the reassurance we so desperately want to hear when we are going through ill health. I knew that I could be that nurse. I felt that my cancer had been the portal to this realization, opening my eyes and heart to what patients need.

Eighteen years later the truth of my life as a nurse is a little more complicated. It’s not that my original soul’s calling isn’t still there, deep inside me. I still feel a close connection with my patients. I still […]

2017-08-04T09:53:14-04:00May 19th, 2016|career, Nursing, nursing perspective, Patients|9 Comments
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Superlatives: An Alternate List for Nurses Week

During Nurses Week (May 6–12), the hospital where I work gives out endearing little trophies as awards for “nursing superlatives.” Ballots are distributed with predetermined categories, and the categories are usually fun and relatively straightforward. They include:

  • Best at Starting an IV
  • Most Likely to Crack a Raunchy Joke before Noon
  • Most Likely to Cry at Some Point during a Shift
  • Funniest Nurse
  • Most “Germ-a-Phobic” Nurse

Some less straightforward categories.

Illustrating the idea of teamwork in nursing. by Geralt/via Pixabay

The contests and catered meals, fun gifts, and light-hearted spirit of Nurses Week make it one of the nicest work weeks of the year, and we all come out of it feeling appreciated. But, in consideration of nursing superlatives, I’d like to propose some new categories. Although these titles won’t fit on the trophy plates, I think they’re worthy of recognition.

  • Most Likely to Notice, By the Tone of Another Nurse’s Voice, That Said Nurse Is Approaching a ‘Tilt’ Level of Stress, and Intervene Accordingly
  • Most Likely to Volunteer to Assist with Postmortem Care  (a job that nobody looks forward to, but that’s nonetheless important)
  • Most Likely to Accompanying Another Nurse on the Transport of an Unstable Patient to a Necessary Scan
  • Most Flexible; or Most Likely to Switch Shifts on Short Notice to Accommodate Another Nurse’s Unexpected Family Events

Making […]

2022-05-05T12:30:39-04:00May 13th, 2016|career, Nursing, nursing perspective|6 Comments
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Why I Like Nurses Week

Safety Plan Safety Plan/Plougmann/via Flickr

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Here’s why I like Nurses Week. I’m sure some folks groan over the idea that for only one week out of the year, health care administrators actually think about all that nurses do and show their appreciation. My perspective is that at least we have one solid week with the spotlight on nursing, when we can toot our horns and make sure that people know the critical role of nursing in health care.

Sure, there are some people who will never “get” what nurses do beyond the old stereotype that nurses are doctors’ helpers. I’m always flabbergasted, though, when physicians—after so much time working alongside nurses as medical students, interns, and residents—still don’t have a more nuanced view of nursing.

In this month’s editorial, I address the American Nurses Association Nurses Week theme, “Culture of Safety: It Starts with You.” How many times, in the dead of night, have nurses called physicians to alert them to a critical change—or questioned an inappropriately ordered medication that, if given as ordered, could have had dire consequences? I also addressed this issue in a 2014 blog post about Arnold Relman, now deceased but […]

2016-11-21T13:01:13-05:00May 11th, 2016|Nursing, nursing perspective, patient safety|1 Comment
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The Nurses Week Prizes We Really Need

Amanda Anderson, formerly a graduate intern at AJN, is now a contributing editor

Culture_of_Safety_2016My first Nurses Week as a nurse, my mother sent me a card and a small gift. When I opened it, I was surprised by its message—no one had ever given me anything for Nurses Week during nursing school. I had no idea that the holiday even existed.

As an English Literature major–turned nursing student, I was pretty clueless about the world of nursing when I launched my career. I spent most of my first year fumbling around in the dark, looking for Florence’s light.

As years passed, I learned more about nursing, claimed it as my own, and became versed in the industry secrets. I started to take pride in Nurses Week, seeing it as a venue for speaking out about nursing.

One year, for the thirty days preceding the holiday, I wrote to Google about 30 living nurse legends, in hopes that they would post a nursing-themed Google Doodle for our week. On another, I penned (and never sent) a scathing letter to a hospital president who had sent a kitschy card I took offense to.

[…]

2023-01-30T10:51:51-05:00May 5th, 2016|career, Nursing, nursing perspective, patient safety|0 Comments
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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.
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