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Profession in quandary
Edi+orial
Profession in quandary
The health care field i s like a giant jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces are constantly changing their shape, fitting together in new ways, and evolving new points and counterpoints. One of the most elusive and shifting pieces in this puzzle i s the status of the "nursing" profession. In the years since the first nurse was licensed, leaders and educators have come full circle in their views of nursing as an art and science. First nurses gave "total" patient care which included bathing the patient, washing the floor, the walls and often the bedding, not to mention the cooking of meals. Hospitals grew and flourished with helpers coming to relieve the "nurse" of many of these lesser functions. And so it went; as the patient load increased, the nurse's patient centered tasks decreased as her added administrative responsibilities demanded more of her time. The paperwork and involvement of administering intravenous medications and blood raised nursing to a "higher" notch on the professional ladder, making room for the many paramedical areas now in existence. For the last eight years, at least, nurses have been sanctioned to diagnose and treat monitored patients in critical care areas. The students are taught to secure effective in-
December 1972
terpersonal relationships with patients and co-workers in treating the "total" patient. The big push i s to put the nurse back at the bedside. Thus the full circle of nurse/ patient relationships. The slogan for the bicentennial of the American Revolution is: "A past to remember/A future to mold". Appropriate as this statement is for the nation, it seems to me equally applicable to our own profession. We have a past to remember. More importantly we have a future to mold. What shall we make of it? How? Will we begin the circle again? Will we be crushed to non-existence between the medic and the paramedic? Will we step up into the hallowed halls of medical practice and lighten some of the duties of the overly burdened doctors? The world around us i s changing. The pieces of the puzzle are being jostled around. The role, status and responsibility of the nursing profession are likewise changing. Our need at this point is for clarification, for definition, and for courage to reassess our purposes and formulate plans to bring these aspirations to reality.
Burba J Edwards,
RN
11
Profession in quandary
The health care field i s like a giant jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces are constantly changing their shape, fitting together in new ways, and evolving new points and counterpoints. One of the most elusive and shifting pieces in this puzzle i s the status of the "nursing" profession. In the years since the first nurse was licensed, leaders and educators have come full circle in their views of nursing as an art and science. First nurses gave "total" patient care which included bathing the patient, washing the floor, the walls and often the bedding, not to mention the cooking of meals. Hospitals grew and flourished with helpers coming to relieve the "nurse" of many of these lesser functions. And so it went; as the patient load increased, the nurse's patient centered tasks decreased as her added administrative responsibilities demanded more of her time. The paperwork and involvement of administering intravenous medications and blood raised nursing to a "higher" notch on the professional ladder, making room for the many paramedical areas now in existence. For the last eight years, at least, nurses have been sanctioned to diagnose and treat monitored patients in critical care areas. The students are taught to secure effective in-
December 1972
terpersonal relationships with patients and co-workers in treating the "total" patient. The big push i s to put the nurse back at the bedside. Thus the full circle of nurse/ patient relationships. The slogan for the bicentennial of the American Revolution is: "A past to remember/A future to mold". Appropriate as this statement is for the nation, it seems to me equally applicable to our own profession. We have a past to remember. More importantly we have a future to mold. What shall we make of it? How? Will we begin the circle again? Will we be crushed to non-existence between the medic and the paramedic? Will we step up into the hallowed halls of medical practice and lighten some of the duties of the overly burdened doctors? The world around us i s changing. The pieces of the puzzle are being jostled around. The role, status and responsibility of the nursing profession are likewise changing. Our need at this point is for clarification, for definition, and for courage to reassess our purposes and formulate plans to bring these aspirations to reality.
Burba J Edwards,
RN
11