The landscape of nursing is forever evolving and with this, our association must change to maintain new growth. An initiative that I discussed during my speech at the Congress closing ceremony was one of increasing membership. What can we all do to help maintain a viable organization that will continue for many years? As we look at issues facing our association and our profession, we cannot help but look at variables such as the aging workforce, decreased specialty units, and working conditions, to name a few. These are the new issues that we face when historically we had faced evolution from handmaiden status to developing a profession that demonstrates knowledge-based virtuous work.
As a new graduate nurse having left a university setting where the motto was, "Nursing: A Profession," I was excited to meet others who shared the same feelings as I began my work on an orthopaedic unit. Perhaps it was naivete or inexperience that I thought everyone I worked with would look at nursing in the same manner. Now, 16 years later, I still hold true to my ideals and seek to teach them to the many students who may have fortunately or unfortunately had the pleasure to be in my clinical and theory groups. We are the best cheerleaders for our profession!! It is up to us to discuss the issues affecting our profession with those we work with and make sure that we protect the fundamental aspects of the profession. I have learned that no matter what the nurse's educational preparation, we all hold intrinsic fundamental values.
How, then, do we urge the youth of our country to step up to the plate, become active in the profession, and become the leaders of tomorrow? This is truly an ordeal. What we can do now is identify that we have inherent differences and see things from a different viewpoint. The generation X and Y workers who are now our colleagues may not have been exposed to the vast history of nursing that many of us lived. They have never seen bottles used for drainage collection, are not familiar with counting drops per minute when administering IVs rather than having the pump calculate the drips, and may have never seen a ward. They never lived in nursing dorms and never knew what a housemother was. Yet, we all sought the common goal of becoming a nurse to provide the best possible care for patients.
We need to reach out to each other, take those seeking mentoring or leadership skills under our wings and guide them. These people will make a difference in our lives as they care for us and lead our organization into the future.
As I recall the theme from the 1997 Congress, "Make a Difference," it is apparent that many of the students, members, and colleagues with whom I have interacted in my life use this theme in the caring that they show their patients. They strive to make a difference every day as they work with others. This is all-encompassing to every nurse, not just the orthopaedic nurses. Hence why I so strongly believe that we need to seek partnering opportunities for our association. How can we make a difference among all the other organizations?
Currently, NAON is but one of more than hundreds of nursing organizations. We all have our own strategic plans; we all offer education and guidelines for practice. We all offer specific membership opportunities and methods for growth, but we rarely work together. Why is it that if we are all facing the same issues we cannot unify to work on their resolution? Could we not effect change if we worked together toward some of these common goals? A goal of mine is to seek out other organizations and make them aware of our activities. Sharing educational proposals and position statements with each other and seeking opinions on advocacy issues that may need to be addressed will strengthen both organizations. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we should seek to share ideas that may benefit many groups, i.e. work with ambulatory nurses through AAACN regarding issues with outpatient surgical centers, work with the OR nurses in AORN about legislation that affects the orthopaedic OR nurse. I reached out to the ER nurses associated with ENA with our ATV position statement, and although they had already sent out their own statement years ago and chose not to support ours, they did ask one of our orthopaedic nurses to write an article for their journal about ATV injuries. NAON has reached out to international areas through its work with the International Alliance of Orthopaedic Nurses and through new contacts obtained at AAOS this year; we hope to make many more international contacts.
Membership development is the work of not only the executive board but also the whole member association. The torch is being passed to a new generation; we need to rise to the challenge and reach out to others by increasing our own growth. Partner with someone in whom you see leadership talent; volunteer to talk about the importance of professional organizations at your former school of nursing; throw away the old notions of how to hold a meeting; and look at opportunities to work with others at the local, national, and international levels, perhaps by hosting a joint meeting or dialogue via the Internet. The chapter advisory task force team and the executive board are available to assist you as needed and welcome your ideas. Keep watch for many of the membership plans that will be materializing this year. We all make a difference in effecting growth!!