THE TRUTH ABOUT NURSING
The public in author’s point of view does not understand much of the nursing profession and thinks that it is only a care that does not need any expertise but just a great heart. They are made to think that the only practitioners in the field of medicine that are of importance to them whenever they seek medical attention are doctors and not nurses. Many people do not understand hat for one to be able to give proper care to a patient he/she needs some special kind of training to handle the patient by giving them the necessary care and hope. The mistreatment of this profession is wide spread and even institutions of higher learning have not fully appreciated nursing as a contributor to academic excellence by putting up schools of nursing which have ultra modern research facilities to facilitate the growth and development of this are of expertise (Buresh & Gordon, 2006, p. 43). Nurses are often paid low wages and their terms of employment are not well defined bringing jeopardy to the practice of nursing. As a career opportunity very few are willing to enroll to the school of nursing especially the gentle men who are made to stereotype nursing as a profession for the feminine since they are the once who have the so called motherly care. This in tern has led to deficiency of nurses in the world at large and particularly the United States that had a severe shortage of such practitioners that led to a campaign back in 1989 to convince more people to enroll for studies in nursing. Nurses are mainly considered to be helps to physicians and are depicted in the same perspective as house helps when it comes to home care.
As far as I am concerned ‘Silence of Nursing’ means that the profession is not well known about and is thus subjected to unfair treatment. From all corners nursing is abused and practitioners in this field are viewed as less important to the general well being of the public at large.
There are clear indicators like less funds being allocated for research in this field by public authorities, the media failing to report much pertaining nurses since they happen not to know much about what these people do in their day to day practice, very few people enrolling for nursing studies leading to deficiency and the poor remuneration associated with this profession. Nurses are also thought to be just helps to other medical practitioners a misconception that has led the public to think that there are not much skill if any required for one to become a nurse (Buresh & Gordon, 2006). It can also be seen that there are very few columns in the print media that are written by nurses and very are times when nurses are called for live television interviews.
Nurses need to advice their patients and families on the importance of the practice whenever they make contact with them. This will make them appreciate their trade and change their minds as regards the way they view this discipline. There should also be campaigns to make the public aware of the need and importance of this area of expertise. The campaigns should include articles in the news papers, magazines that highlight the practice, live television interviews and nurses coming out strongly and telling people out their how important their profession is both at individual and through associations. They should also inform patients about the doctors who handle them and his/her level of competence and this would change how people view them and start thinking that they are equally important members of the society at large.
By advocating for the integration of nursing into institutions of higher learning people will star reconsidering their stand as far as this discipline is concerned and they will be more willing to know more about it than ever before. They(nurses) should make sure that politicians and administrators who tries to replace nursing with other technical practices are opposed.
The media generally does not know much about nursing and journalized pays very little attention on this practice. However there are times when the media is said to report negatively as it regards this area of expertise. For instance the final report on the Woodhull study on nursing categorized as negative a report on the USA Today that said that 1200 nurses picketed a Kaiser hospital in California protesting change in telephone triage lines that would cut many nursing jobs. A St Petersburg story is categorized as mixed which reported on a nurse who stopped her car to save a child’s life while heading to a traffic court. This whole thing could change if the media were well informed about the trade of nurses through forums and conferences. There should also be established departments in the media that is to focus mainly on nursing and this will lead to training of the journalists in question on what nursing entails hence they will hold a high level of professionalism while reporting matters nursing.
INAPPROPRIATE TREATMENT OF NURSING
It has become a common practice to disregard nurses and their trade. The whole world needs to know that this profession-like any other is of importance to the general wellbeing of any given society. However nurses are often depicted especially by the media as lesser members of the society without a proper analysis on their day to day trade. This has left the public not to know exactly what role these group of individuals play in the process of saving a life whenever one is hospitalized.
I strongly think that the state of affairs can change if you, the media inquire more and start writing positively and more elaborately about this profession. This will change the miss conception and make the practitioners treated fairly. Furthermore it will be easier to advocate for funding if the general public is made to understand the practice
The ultimate goal of the author of this book was to create awareness about nursing. She emphasize on the need for the public to understand this discipline and treat it with the importance it deserves and not just rubbish it or spend less time on it.
Of course I have to think differently about nursing especially when it comes to the perspective I view it from having get to know its importance to the society wellbeing and how vital it is to the general recovery of any given patient. By now I would advocate for more people to join the profession to cut on the nurse to patient ratio. I also feel that the wages of nurses ought to be increased after getting to understand what they go through while doing their work.
References
Buresh, B., & Gordon, S. (2006). From Silence to voice: what nurses know and must
communicate to the public. Ithaca, NY: Cornel University Press
