Passion for your profession

AORN Journal, Feb, 2007 by Paula R. Graling

February is known as the month of passion. Red hearts, roses, and chocolate candy are plentiful as people celebrate Valentine traditions, like sending specially signed cards to friends and lovers. The real history behind these February festivities is the legend of St Valentine that dates back to ancient Roman history and the festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb 15.

   For 800 years, the Romans had dedicated
   this day to the god Lupercus.
   On Lupercalia, a young man would
   draw the name of a young woman
   in a lottery and would then keep the
   woman as a sexual companion for
   the year. Pope Gelasius I was,
   understandably, less than thrilled
   with this custom. So he changed the
   lottery to have both young men and
   women draw the names of saints
   whom they would then emulate for
   the year.... Instead of Lupercus,
   the patron of the feast became
   Valentine. For Roman men, the day
   continued to be an occasion to seek
   the affections of women, and it
   became a tradition to give out handwritten
   messages of admiration that
   included Valentine's name. (1)

PASSION FOR NURSING

We talk about our passion for nursing and our profession, but what does that truly mean? Does it mean more than the tangible physical and emotional comfort we give to patients who are suffering pain or anxiety?

I see the passion each time one of my colleagues whisks by me on the way from the emergency room bay to our OR with a critically injured patient, a person whose life depends on the unique coordination of the trauma team. I saw excitement in the smiles of the staff members at Shriner's Hospital Honolulu, as they led me through their unique inpatient setting and their occupational and physical therapy areas. I also toured with nurses at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md, and discussed with them the construction of their new magnetic resonance imaging room. Their eyes lit up when they talked about how it will bring new hope to some neurosurgery patients and how nurses contributed to the design of the room and the program's development.

I witnessed examples of passion when I visited our military colleagues at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC. These nurses are challenged daily with caring for those injured in Iraq and Afghanistan in a way many of us may never face, and it was an honor to share a few moments with them.

I have watched perioperative colleagues explain a room set up for a complex robotic case to new students, confidently covering every intricate detail. I have heard educators in Tampa, Fla, talk about meeting with high school students to discuss perioperative careers, letting their personal pride and commitment to our profession shine through in the description of what we do to make a difference in the experiences of perioperative patients.

Recently, I met with a group of nurses in Texas about legislative issues, and their passion was evident as they articulated their concerns about threats to perioperative nursing practice and patient safety. The nurses of the South Carolina State Council, under the leadership of Becky Mueller, RN, CNOR, exhibited their passion by raising funds for school supplies for a parish in Louisiana. They helped students devastated by hurricanes and helped to enhance the image of perioperative nursing at the same time. Many other examples of passion for nursing were shared with me in your stories from Perioperative Nurse Week as you promoted our profession to community groups, schools, hospital coworkers, and even patients' family members in surgical waiting areas.

KEEPING THE PASSION ALIVE

According to 2004 projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics,

   RNs top the list of the 10
   occupations with the largest
   projected job growth in the
   years 2002-2012. Although
   RNs have been listed
   among the top 10 growth
   occupations in the past, this
   is the first time in recent
   history that RNs have
   ranked first....  [Continued
   job growth demands] coupled
   with the current
   trends of nurses retiring or
   leaving the profession and
   fewer new nurses, could
   lead to a shortage of more
   than one million nurses by
   the end of this decade. (2)

These numbers emphasize the actual nurse shortage not a nursing shortage. To clarify, I mean that those of us who are in the position of nursing care delivery are working hard to deliver the best care to patients. We depend on key metrics such as patient safety goals and nursing quality indicators to serve as outcome measures. As our numbers slowly begin to stabilize, we anticipate the rebuilding of our professional ranks by disseminating AORN's Perioperative Nursing Course 101 and using our ORs for undergraduate nursing curricula activities. Our passion for our profession must remain strong!

Past-President Linda Groah, RN, MSN, CNOR, CNAA, FAAN, chose "Rekindle the Passion for Perioperative Nursing" as the theme for Congress in 1997. Consider the examples of passion that I have shared with you. I could very easily be referring to you and your coworkers with these examples. If not, talk with your peers to discuss ways you can rekindle passion for perioperative nursing in your workplace, chapter, state council, or specialty assembly. Most important, take ownership of what you can do to rekindle the passion in your own practice.