How important are you?

AORN Journal, May, 2007 by Nancy J. Girard

The month of May brings warmer weather and spring flowers, and it also brings National Nurses Week, May 6 to 12. At this time of year, we take time to praise and recognize all nurses everywhere. Throughout the year, in the hectic health care workplaces of today, RNs tend to become worn out and often burned out. It is fitting and proper that they and their work are recognized because nurses are important.

Nrss r vtl t th hlth cr f ppl tdy. Rprts shw tht nrss r th mst hghly vld nd rspctd wrkrs f ll prfssns. Thy r crng, cmptnt, nd thr fr thr ptnts. Prprtv nrss r ldng th wy fr sf cr f th srgcl ptnt. Having problems reading this? That is because there is something missing, something very important and necessary--the vowels. Add the vowels and the paragraph says,

   Nurses are vital to the health care of
   people today. Reports show that
   nurses are the most highly valued
   and respected workers of all professions.
   They are caring, competent,
   and there for their patients. Perioperative
   nurses are leading the way
   for safe care of the surgical patient.

Nurses are like vowels. They are not only important, but necessary. As we celebrate this week, imagine what your hospital would be like without any nurses. What if RNs everywhere suddenly disappeared? Would health care organizations come to a screeching halt? What would health care be like outside of hospitals? Who would coordinate, plan, communicate, and teach? Would the absence of nurses in our society make a difference? The answer is a resounding "yes." Health care in the United States today without nurses is inconceivable.

We all know exceptional nurses and what they have accomplished. At the recent 54th AORN Congress in Orlando, Fla, nurses were recognized with awards for writing, practice, professional activities, and lifetime achievement. Nurses' accomplishments at national and international levels are well known to us--nurses like Margretta Madden Styles, EdD, RN, FAAN, an AORN member and a nurse scholar, who was renowned globally as an international leader in nursing education, regulation, and credentialing. She was recognized here and abroad for her efforts and was awarded the Christiane Reimann Prize--nursing's most prestigious international award--for her remarkable achievements. (1)

Leaders of our organization have changed and expanded perioperative nursing. Jane Rothrock, DNSc, RN, CNOR, FAAN, has been instrumental in the development of the RN first assistant role, and Susan Kleinbeck, PhD, RN, CNOR, has worked for years to help develop the Perioperative Nursing Data Set, a common vocabulary for perioperative nurses. These are only two in a very long list of educators, writers, clinicians, and researchers who are working to promote nursing and improve health care through nursing practice, surgical safety, and information sharing. A list of nurses' achievements could fill the remainder of this Journal and still not scratch the surface of all the contributions nurses have made.

Although this column focuses on perioperative nurses, RNs contribute everywhere, in many ways. One example is the accomplishments of Martha Martinez, RN, MSN, who drove a mobile health van to 10 different colonias (ie, residential areas that may lack some of the most basic living necessities) along the rural south Texas border. In her mobile practice, she helped provide care for 250 indigent patients each month. (2)

It has been noted that there should be a Nobel Prize for nursing (3) because nurses have been at the forefront of health care, research, and practice for decades and have changed the world by inventing, revising, or improving health care systems and nursing practice. Nurses have

* helped develop treatments for pain management and wound care,

* worked with older adults and vulnerable populations,

* increased skill competencies for disaster and trauma care,

* led efforts to decrease violence,

* promoted management of chronic illnesses, and

* improved team communication.

They have assisted in research to develop functional and effective field hospitals and in the invention and refinement of surgical products.

A world without nurses would be like words without vowels. It might be possible to struggle along, but everything would be confused and ineffective. Nurses are vital. Nurses are marvelous. Nurses are necessary. You are important! Have a happy National Nurses Week and celebrate your choice of an excellent career.

REFERENCES

(1.) Awards and fellowships. International Council of Nurses. Available at: http://www.icn.ch /awards.htm#cr3. Accessed March 21, 2007.

(2.) One of the best celebrates 30 years of nursing achievement. The Mission. 26; Spring 1999. Available at: http://www.uthscsa.edu/mission/ spring99/nurses30.html. Accessed March 21, 2007.

(3.) The Nobel Prize in nursing. December 8, 2006. The Center for Nursing Advocacy. Available at: http://www.nursingadvocacy .org/news_alerts/2006/dec/08 .html. Accessed March 21, 2007.

NANCY J. GIRARD

PHD, RN, FAAN

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF