This week we were able to talk about the future of nursing. We watched an interesting TED Talk on where the future of nursing is heading, as well as some of the goals for the future.
The TED Talk discussed the future of nursing heading towards an increased focus on leadership, as well as understanding and educating the community on the value of nurses.
Some of the goals that I pulled from the talk included:
The TED Talk discussed the future of nursing heading towards an increased focus on leadership, as well as understanding and educating the community on the value of nurses.
Some of the goals that I pulled from the talk included:
- Ensure that nurses are used to their full capacity
- Become lifelong learners - obtain a graduate education
- Leadership in practice, research, education, administration, and service
- Educate the public about the value of nursing
I'm just going to briefly focus on each one of these, including my thoughts on each goal.
Ensure that nurses are used to their full capacity.
So I both agree and disagree with this goal. While I do feel that nurses are often under utilized and could definitely be put to better use, I am not sure how I feel about nurse practitioners. This is something that was mentioned a lot, both in the lecture, as well as in our team's discussion for the week. I think that putting nurse practitioners on the same level as physicians is... scary? I don't know, it's not that I don't trusts nurses or NPs. But physicians go to med school for a reason, and to give NPs the same power as physicians, I don't know. It feels like cheating to me. Maybe I just don't know how intensive NP school is. Honestly, I don't. Maybe the overall training that NPs receive is comparable to med school, just that they achieve it through a different pathway. I think this is something I would have to actually take the time to educate myself on before I can form a solid opinion of.
Become lifelong learners - obtain a graduate education.
Well, there are already a bunch of hospitals that are making the push for ALL nurses to have their Bachelors degree by (I believe) 2020. I am not sure I agree with this goal either. Most of what we are learning in the Bachelors program has to do with things like leadership and management and research. None of those things really interest me, so if it weren't required of me, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do it... That's not to say that I disagree with the idea of lifelong learning. I think that it is definitely important that nurses are lifelong learners. That's what's so great about nursing: there is always more to learn. I think the problem is that there isn't always a degree attached to what you are learning, so it can seem like a nurse who only has an Associates degree might not know as much as a nurse with a Bachelors degree, when in reality, the ASN nurse might have 40 years of experience, which the BSN nurse might be a brand new grad who has never worked a nursing job before.
Leadership in practice, research, education, administration, and service.
I know this is a leadership class... but I don't really have a desire to become a leader. Wow. Maybe I am just really unmotivated? I don't know, I'm not saying I will never become a leader, but I'm also not planning to actively seek out a leadership role. I'm currently happy with where I am in life. I don't need or want the pressure and responsibility of becoming a leader. And while I think it's absolutely great, amazing, fantastic, that nurses have the opportunity to become leaders, and that the future of nursing is encouraging nurses to seek out leadership, it's not something I personally want.
Educate the public about the value of nursing.
Hey! We finally found a goal I 100% agree with! A success!
No, but in all seriousness, I think this is a great goal. I think that there are many people in the community who underestimate the value and the skill of nurses. Nursing is hard. If it were easy, we wouldn't have a nursing shortage right now. But its not easy, and I don't think people realize that, and so they often take nurses for granted.
I think that part of the reason nurses are taken for granted is the way nurses are viewed in our society. There are plenty of medical (drama) TV shows out there in the world, but they often focus on physicians, or portray hospitals as massive mixing pots for drama (looking at you Grey's Anatomy). Also, just take a look at Halloween costumes. Sexy nurse costumes can portray the nursing profession as a joke. Nurses are not just pretty faces and hot bodies, and I think sometimes that is missed because of the way society, and especially the media, tends to portray nurses.
Overall, this week was very interesting to think about. I'm not sure I had really spent a lot of time considering the future of nursing, beyond that it is growing a lot right now and that it will continue to grow. I know there is a big focus on expanding diversity of nurses right now as well, and I would love to see that reflected in the students in nursing school. I, personally, don't see the lack of diversity as being an issue of discrimination, but rather an issue of lack of interest. I also think that in terms of the gender bias, we have fewer male nurses because it seems that men will use nursing as a jumping off point for things like NP or CRNA. Of the guys in my graduating nursing class (all 10 of them), more than half of them wanted to go on to do something else. Whereas of the 40 girls, maybe 7 of them wanted to continue on with their education.
Become lifelong learners - obtain a graduate education.
Well, there are already a bunch of hospitals that are making the push for ALL nurses to have their Bachelors degree by (I believe) 2020. I am not sure I agree with this goal either. Most of what we are learning in the Bachelors program has to do with things like leadership and management and research. None of those things really interest me, so if it weren't required of me, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do it... That's not to say that I disagree with the idea of lifelong learning. I think that it is definitely important that nurses are lifelong learners. That's what's so great about nursing: there is always more to learn. I think the problem is that there isn't always a degree attached to what you are learning, so it can seem like a nurse who only has an Associates degree might not know as much as a nurse with a Bachelors degree, when in reality, the ASN nurse might have 40 years of experience, which the BSN nurse might be a brand new grad who has never worked a nursing job before.
Leadership in practice, research, education, administration, and service.
I know this is a leadership class... but I don't really have a desire to become a leader. Wow. Maybe I am just really unmotivated? I don't know, I'm not saying I will never become a leader, but I'm also not planning to actively seek out a leadership role. I'm currently happy with where I am in life. I don't need or want the pressure and responsibility of becoming a leader. And while I think it's absolutely great, amazing, fantastic, that nurses have the opportunity to become leaders, and that the future of nursing is encouraging nurses to seek out leadership, it's not something I personally want.
Educate the public about the value of nursing.
Hey! We finally found a goal I 100% agree with! A success!
No, but in all seriousness, I think this is a great goal. I think that there are many people in the community who underestimate the value and the skill of nurses. Nursing is hard. If it were easy, we wouldn't have a nursing shortage right now. But its not easy, and I don't think people realize that, and so they often take nurses for granted.
I think that part of the reason nurses are taken for granted is the way nurses are viewed in our society. There are plenty of medical (drama) TV shows out there in the world, but they often focus on physicians, or portray hospitals as massive mixing pots for drama (looking at you Grey's Anatomy). Also, just take a look at Halloween costumes. Sexy nurse costumes can portray the nursing profession as a joke. Nurses are not just pretty faces and hot bodies, and I think sometimes that is missed because of the way society, and especially the media, tends to portray nurses.
Overall, this week was very interesting to think about. I'm not sure I had really spent a lot of time considering the future of nursing, beyond that it is growing a lot right now and that it will continue to grow. I know there is a big focus on expanding diversity of nurses right now as well, and I would love to see that reflected in the students in nursing school. I, personally, don't see the lack of diversity as being an issue of discrimination, but rather an issue of lack of interest. I also think that in terms of the gender bias, we have fewer male nurses because it seems that men will use nursing as a jumping off point for things like NP or CRNA. Of the guys in my graduating nursing class (all 10 of them), more than half of them wanted to go on to do something else. Whereas of the 40 girls, maybe 7 of them wanted to continue on with their education.
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