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Re-Engage Your Passion for Nursing

Featured Author:

Laura Wisniewski, RN

Laura Wisniewski RN is an educator, speaker and writer with 25 years of front line nursing experience. Her company, Nursing Voice Communications, provides empowering, solution-oriented presentations on nursing workforce issues. Her articles encourage and challenge nurses to improve healthcare.

See all of Laura’s featured articles here.

To learn more about Laura, please visit her website.

More articles from this author:

• How to Score in Your Nursing Career
• All Nurses Are Leaders
• Nursing as a Second Career

Stop waiting to be rescued

A frequent cry heard from nurses is that the hospital administration or government should do something about the problems in nursing. Nurses comprise the largest group of healthcare professionals. There are 2.5 million nurses in the United States. Yet the majority of nurses remain silent.A large part of the problem is that nurses are too busy fighting amongst themselves. Lateral violence or “eating our young” has been a well documented phenomenon in nursing for many years. In the UK the term bullying is used to describe this issue. Stop the trend by refusing to participate! Some nurses have succumb to the scarcity model of thinking, with the belief is that there is not enough of the pie to go around. In contrast the by embracing the abundance model model of thinking , we make the pie bigger.

Gather Information

What are you currently reading? Are you reading? Educate yourself about the issues effecting nursing. What are the regulatory, financial and technological trends driving your practice? Technical information is critical to staying abreast of changes in your field. However, balance studying the science of nursing with the art of nursing. The intrinsic value that nurses offer patients is what makes nursing truly different from all other healthcare specialties.

The fastest way to become an expert in your field is to read an hour a day. Spend time learning about career trends and options. Are you prepared for the sudden shifts that lie ahead? To become truly informed read about trends in fields outside of nursing and healthcare.

This is the information age. Are you comfortable with technology and finding information on the internet? The internet literally puts the world at your fingertips. Nursing is knowledge work. That knowledge is evolving at a mind boggling pace. Don’t be left behind. Learn to use search engines and databases. Network with other nurses of similar interests on the Internet.

Listen to encouraging voices

It is just as important to feed your spirit as it is to feed your mind. Combat the negative noise and pessimism with optimistic solution oriented information. There is an ever growing group of nurses that want to help improve the current situation in healthcare. They can be found everywhere… in books and journals, on the internet, nursing organizations and perhaps working next to you.

Negative speaking and thinking are habits. Over time these habits can be replaced with positive ones. It takes time and practice. When you speak optimistically about the future of nursing, the first person to hear your words is you. This is not meant to offer an over simplistic solution to the problems facing nursing, simply a starting point.

The Challenge

It has been said that knowledge is power…however application of knowledge by taking action is the only real power. Begin with your own career. You will start affecting those around you. Leadership is not a position. It is the act of setting an example through our actions. All nurses are leaders. Start a ripple effect where you work and in your nursing organizations. Tap back into why you became a nurse and help those around you do the same. When enough nurses reengage in nursing, it will create a tipping point and healthcare will be forever changed for the better.