nursingforsocialjustice

I take a lot of pride in being nurse. It hurts me a little when I work with people who seem a little lost about what the nurses role full entails. I understand why misunderstanding happens; it took me 5 years to fully understand the role of Occupational Therapists. What really hurts me, almost deep within my nursing soul, is when the de-valuing of the profession comes from within, from fellow nurses. I recently had a conversation with a co-worker who firmly held the position that the amount of training and education that is necessary for entry to practice today is not necessary as the same skills could be learned in a apprenticeship-based program. Could this be? Did I just step into the Twilight Zone? How could a colleague, someone who succeeded in the process of completing a university degree in which we learned nursing theory, nursing practice think that the depth and breadth of our role, something that I do not think I even began to full actualize until recently, is something that could be learned on-the-job, in a manner of training prevalent in the nursing of yesteryear, in a time of less technology, less evidence, and knowledge? I firmly disagreed. I held strong the position that, in order for the profession to advance and for us (meaning professional, regulated nurses) to truly actualize our (RNs and RPNs) full scope of practice, the full scope that our university preparedness enables us to do, we need to have a unified understanding of the importance of being university prepared. I held strong the position that, in order to move ahead as the future leaders of health care that I firmly believe we are, we need to realize that the necessary amount education we need is a university degree.

As I got on my soapbox, words spilling out of my mouth, I wondered, do physicians ever have similar conversations with each other? Do they ever reminisce about the days when surgeons were barbers, and wish for yesteryear when you could cut hair and remove and appendix in the same visit? And, if they don’t, why don’t they? And, if we think that the equivalent of 4 full-time years of medical school, residency and fellowship is necessary to become a competent doctor what is it about nursing that we think 2 years of co-op programs/work experience with some formal education is sufficient to be a great nurse?

How is it that a baccalaureate level degree is perceived as so differently when the nature of the work is so closely intertwined? I wondered, what is missing from the profession of nursing that some nurses who work in mental health view their position as care providers as something so unskilled that anyone with a little bit of formal training could do it in an ethical and competent way? There was a time not so long ago when surgeons were barbers  (Porter, 2004). How is it that they now command such a high level of respect when nurses, their history rooted in selflessness and courage , are viewed as a lesser doctor, the much less skilled physicians hand-maiden (Strong-Boag, 1991)?

The other things that I am thinking about today:

• nursing led Grand Rounds
• leadership in mental health nursing
• new graduate mentorship for mental health nurses
• education leadership in mental health nursing
• advanced practice nursing roles in mental health nursing
• developing the profession of nursing
• fostering a sense of pride in mental health nurses

Much of what is important to me career-wise is helping develop the profession of nursing. I think that the leaders of health care are nurses.

Peace,

Michelle D.

Porter, R. (2004). Blood and guts: A short history of medicine. WW Norton & Company.

Strong-Boag, V. (1991). Making a difference: the history of Canada’s nurses. Canadian Bulletin of Medical History/Bulletin canadien d’histoire de la médecine, 8(1), 231-248.