Nurse's Week Message
"The Backbone of Dignity is Mattering"
Colleen Casper, DNP, RN, MS
Congratulations on National Nurses Month to all of the incredibly wise, attentive, and caring nurse professionals who find yourselves reading this column today.
Nurse’s Month is such a great time to remind us of the 2022 results of the Gallup survey that rates nurses as the highest for honesty and ethics for the 20th consecutive year. Read that again, 20th consecutive year!!!
Of course, we as nurses say, that is who we are.
The question is, do we matter? Are nurses valued? Given the results of the recent legal proceedings of our nurse colleague at Vanderbilt being charged criminally with negligence and abuse, I suggest we are not valued. Given the lack of healthcare leaders courage and integrity to honestly confront and address the severe nursing shortage, I am again confident that we are not valued.
I have been a professional student of healthy work environments since the beginning of my management career, in the 1980’s. In 2004 (20 years later), when the Quality Chasm was published, I thought for sure nursing’s value was about to be more widely recognized in the way we provide 24-hour surveillance of and interventions for patient needs and potential harm, whether in a hospital, a school, a home, long term care, etc.
Today, as your professional association’s interface with legislative and governmental agencies, I can claim that we have had moments of value, though we have some distance to go.
The title for this column comes from our recent conference presenter, Dr. Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, CCTP. We were fortunate to hear her message of the historical roots of nursing as a political movement and our ongoing challenges to address nurses’ tendency towards powerlessness. I can’t help but think of the incredible numbers of nurses, nurse’s assistants, and LPNs I have spoken with in the last 2 years, too afraid to tell their story to their own supervisors, let alone the agencies designed to regulate and assure public safety in Colorado.
In exploring the concept of “dignity and mattering” , I’ll quote now from Isaac Prilleltensky, author and scholar who writes, “To feel worthy, we have to feel that we are equal to others, and that we deserve to be treated with respect. We have to experience fairness in relationships, at work, and in society. Moreover, we have to be fair to ourselves. We cannot experience dignity without fairness”.
Exclusion in decision making is one significant example I offer to describe workforce devaluing, which is contributing to nursing workforce resignation. The power of a travel nurse position, shifts the power differential so that decisions about me, cannot be made without me. Exclusionary behaviors such as being left out of staffing decisions, quite naturally triggers anger and hostility and helplessness. What are our options?
First, remember, we are recognized as the most honest and trusted profession because we advocate for patients and families when they are most vulnerable. Remember, who you are and what you do every day has value and impacts individual lives.
Explore strategies to strengthen your own personal confidence and competencies in having difficult conversations with those who may be in positions of power over you. Be constructive, respectful and firm. Be clear about your intent and your goal. I’ll borrow from Phyllis Beck-Kritek, PhD, RN, FAAN, who reminds us that when we are negotiating at an “uneven table”, sometimes “drawing a kind line in the sand and walking away” is best for you, your soul and your work.
Happy Nurses Month, and may you find dignity in all that you do. |
