2015: The Year of the Nurse!

From blundering talk-show hosts to arrogant physicians and hospitals, nurses have had to take their power and poise to present who we really are to the public. The public has never wavered in their belief that nurses are the most trustworthy healthcare professionals in this country  – in fact the most trustworthy of any profession! (see http://www.gallup.com/poll/180260/americans-rate-nurses-highest-honesty-ethical-standards.aspx).

So why are the #Michigan68 getting the shaft and why are nurses underpaid and underappreciated? Because we are doing for our patients and too honest and ethical to value our own services above their health? Now is the time to insist upon being valued, to advocate for our fellow RNs and to continue to spread the word via social media, tele-media and print media that we are standing strong with the #Michigan68. This touching video from a CRNA in Florida really hits home:

https://video.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xap1/v/t42.1790-2/12464614_134058133634869_172016573_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjM4MywicmxhIjo2MjIsInZlbmNvZGVfdGFnIjoidjNfNDI2X2NyZl8yM19tYWluXzMuMF9zZCJ9&rl=383&vabr=213&oh=a2db808ccc386abe0b6ac29602b0671d&oe=5689F854

The opportunity to reinvent one’s self comes with a high cost in terms of comfort and security. But it opens up new possibilities to achieve our dreams. I am doing that by completing an MSN in Informatics. RNs are continually pursuing graduate degrees and adding new sources of wisdom and ideas to our professional knowledge base. Let us move confidently forward into 2016 and build upon “the Year of the Nurse”.