When I was asked to assist in the revitalization of Nurse LinkUp as it enters its new and improved incarnation, I was inspired to consider closely what it is that nurses need in the 21st century. What is it that keeps nurses in nursing? What are nurses not getting that would serve them well, whether on the front line of the ER or the wards of long-term care facilities? What is it that nurses are pining for? Who are we, really? How have we changed and how must we change even now?

There are many answers to these and other questions, but the overarching question really rests with each nurse, whoever and wherever he or she may be. We have all chosen nursing for a variety of reasons: for a stable career, for a respected profession, for a means to an economic end, or because we were expected to. But no matter how or why we got here, there must be universal needs that all nurses will need to first formulate, and then articulate, and then actualize in the real world. Let’s face it----no one will do it for us. The docs expect us to be there to pick up the pieces and carry the care of each patient forward. The patients expect us to do our job and do it well. The media only seem to watch for a sensationalized story of a “nurse gone bad” in order to say anything about us at all. And the hospitals and other organizations that employ us? They expect us to move mountains with little more than a pat on the back and a card and flowers during Nurses Week (if we’re lucky).

What keeps us going? What makes us get up in the morning and head back to work (other than the bills piling up at home)? Does the little light that went off in our heads when we decided to enter this profession still shine as brightly? Are we crispy around the edges, edging towards burnout and compassion fatigue? Have we been used, abused, and discarded like so much cannon fodder? Have mandatory overtime or high nurse-patient ratios destroyed our morale and our willingness to go the extra mile? Will we always be expected to do more with less?

I ask these not-so-rhetorical questions because I have myself recently experienced burnout. Earlier this year, I completed a six-week (unpaid) medical leave of absence under the auspices of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1992, passed under the Clinton Administration. I have given my career a great deal of thought, attempting to discern how to continue to practice as a nurse (which I love) while caring for my health and well-being (which I simply must prioritize). I have already extricated myself from a job to which I was committed heart and soul for seven years; a job which, sadly, had taken a multifactorial toll which I only now have begun to fully understand.

So what is it that we need? Respect----from doctors, patients, administrators, the media, allied health professionals, and even (gasp!) other nurses. We need appropriate compensation for our experience and expertise. We need outstanding benefits. We need flexibility and autonomy. We need appropriate clinical supervision. We require administrators to spend time on the floors, walking the corridors with us in order to understand what it is we do and how challenging it really is.

Nurses need the media to not only report on nurses who are striking (generally for good reason, mind you), nursing shortages (true enough, but not the only story), or nurses who commit murder (the rare exception). We need the media to examine and report on the good work that nurses do in society. Who are the nurses who seek out the homeless as the temperatures drop in the depths of winter? Who is by the bedside at 2am when a patient begins to code? Who staffs the schools and makes sure our children receive their medications and other care in a timely and professional manner? Who visits our elderly friends and relatives when they come home three days after a joint replacement or surgery, wounds draining, with medication regimens more complex than a quadratic equation?

Nurses have come a long way since the days of caps, pins, and white shoes (I never wear ‘em!). We are no longer only doctors’ assistants (although some would apparently like a return to those bad old days). We are a professional cadre of women and men who make the healthcare industry tick. We are highly trained and highly skilled clinicians, greatly trusted and respected by the general public and essential to public health and societal well-being. We are crucial members of the healthcare frontline, and we are taking our place in society, shrugging off the ignominious labels of “pink-collar workers” and “handmaidens to physicians”. Nurses have arrived, and the global shortage conveniently drives home the message that we are essential and valuable.

So, nurses, how do we present ourselves? How do we bring our voices out into the wilderness? When and how do we have our professional needs met and our career goals respected and valued? When and how do nurses find their voice?

The above questions cannot be answered in the course of an article, blog post, or other diatribe. Nothing speaks louder than action, and nurses at their best bring compassion, skill, and intelligence into action. I ask these questions not because I expect an instant answer. I ask these questions so that you, dear Nurse, will consider your answers to such questions, but more importantly, that you will begin to formulate your own questions.

What do nurses have to do? Where do we need to go? Who are we, really? Look within,  my friends, and then tell us what you see.

 

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NurseKeith is a nurse, writer, blogger, and consultant. Please feel free to visit his blog, Digital Doorway .  

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