I recently saw a headline about an expert who was giving advice about how frequently you should wash your jeans. Skimming the article revealed that the expert was a dermatologist. Although I could not find evidence that someone had conducted a multicenter randomized trial to explore the effects of washing frequency on blue jeans cross-contamination, the dermatologist certainly had knowledge about skin care. Moreover, they took ownership of that knowledge. In the eyes of the reporter and the reader, the dermatologist was an expert.
Nurses are experts. However, as nurses, we seem a bit more reluctant to take ownership of our own expertise. Throughout my career, I have been astounded by the number of silent experts. In this editorial, I refer to the silent expert as someone who is clearly an expert but doesn't speak up at the appropriate time. Silent experts have contextually relevant and important information, but they are reluctant to volunteer this knowledge. Nurses in particular seem drawn toward a reluctance to self-identify as an expert.
A personal example is when I was the silent expert. I remember being at a conference many years ago with Mary Kay Bader, a past president of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses. During a presentation, we sat about midway back in a room of 300 nurses, and when we heard the presenter tell the audience that the Glasgow Coma Scale ranges from 0 to 15, we each did an instant double take. This misstatement was repeated a few more times during the presentation. Silently mouthing the words "no, that's wrong," we sat through the presentation. Afterward, we applauded the speaker. Eventually, and in private, we took the speaker aside and provided a bit of clarity. Looking back, we were both guilty of being silent experts. Worse, I don't think we were alone. The room was packed-and there is not a neuroscience nurse on the planet who doesn't know that the Glasgow Coma Scale ranges from 3 to 15.
The issue of silent experts again came to mind during the 55th annual meeting of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses. Speaker after speaker asked relatively simple questions, but few, if any, nurses responded. The meeting was well attended, and there were a lot of certified nurses. American Association of Neuroscience Nurses nurses work hard to become certified.1 Certification is a hallmark of being committed to your profession. Certified nurses may not know everything about every topic, but certified nurses are experts. There were also a lot of nurses who were not certified but who had expertise in some topic. Those nurses are also experts.
Do not be a silent expert. Let your voice be heard. You have information worth sharing, and the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing wants to help you share. Submit your thoughts and acknowledge what your mother has been saying for years, "You are really smart!"
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