Nursing Speaks on the Nurseforce and the Work Environment: Report to the ANA House of Delegates, June 26, 2003

Alabama Nurse, Sep-Nov 2003

ANA White Paper

Gretta Styles:

Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, delegates and guests.

Imagine a world without nurses. Think of a world without persons who know what nurses know; who believe as nurses believe, who do what nurses do; who have the effect that nurses have upon the health of individuals, families, communities, and the nation; and who enjoy the trust that nurses enjoy from the American people. Imagine a world without nurses.

Cheryl Peterson and I are pleased to present a brief report this morning on ANA's white paper on the nursing shortage. It is ANA's intent to provide a document, a resource on this critical problem from ANA's distinctive perspective. The paper is titled Nursing Speaks: On the Nurseforce and the Work Environment.

As you know, an inundation of reports on this subject has been promulgated by both nursing and other organizations concerned with health care. And ANA has, in fact, participated in many of those projects, including Nursing's Agenda for the Future. So what can ANA add to this plethora of reports?

To begin, within a single reference document, ANA will summarize the reports, including the vast consensus related to the nature, causes, and proposed remedies to the shortage.

Secondly, ANA will develop an action plan around those points of agreement as to how the health care system can and should be transformed or, better yet, be reinvented. And third, ANA will identify the critical resources needed to carry out such an action plan.

But, above all, Nursing Speaks is about what we can and must do for ourselves. It is about our social imperative to identify priorities for strengthening the nurseforce and the work environment and to be accountable for the pursuit of those priorities. Nursing Speaks is about the consent and commitment and competence of nurses to achieve essential changes. Nursing Speaks is about our power and obligation to determine our own destiny and, accordingly, the future of health care.

What is our goal with respect to our action plan? ANA has helped create and has adopted the vision within Nursing's Agenda for the Future, which, as you know, is the product of a broad coalition of nursing organizations.

Nursing (will be) the pivotal health care profession, highly valued for its specialized knowledge, skill, and caring in improving the health status of the public and ensuring safe, effective, quality care.

The profession (will) mirror the diverse population it serves and provides leadership to create positive change in health policy and delivery systems.

Individuals (will) choose nursing as a career, and remain in the profession, because of the opportunities for personal and professional growth, supportive work environment, and compensation commensurate with roles and responsibilities.

I have mentioned that Nursing Speaks is about nursing convictions and commitments. ANA has three essential convictions about this project.

The first conviction is that major transformations must occur in the work environments and the nursing schools. The second conviction is that successful efforts are most often the result of collaborative partnerships rooted in the community and defined by consumer needs. This suggests that the primary focus for change is at the institutional and local level where specific needs can be addressed and strategies developed that reflect the community demographics, culture, resources, and leadership. The third conviction is that ANA's role is to advocate for supportive policies on the national level and to identify and promote resources for community and state initiatives.

In a moment Cheryl will be speaking in greater detail about the segments of the document, including the action plan and the resources to be generated. But first I would like to point out two words, two concepts in fact, introduced in Nursing Speaks. We hope they will soon permeate the nursing vocabulary and environment and capture the hearts and minds of nurses. Words are important because they symbolize and shape how we think about ourselves.

These compound nouns that we have adopted are Nurseforce and Nursepower. As you know, in talking about the supply of nurses, we often speak of nursing workforce - two words - and nursing manpower - two words. Why not be efficient and specific and build nursing into the base, and, in doing so, add new meaning to the words?

A Nurseforce of 2.7 million experts, the largest of the health professions, suggests strength in itself. When solidarity, when working together is added, the element of power in achieving our goals, our social, mandate, is formidable.

Nurseforce. Nursepower. Roll them around on your tongue. Turn them over in your mind. Instill them in your heart. Use them creatively in your communication.

And now, here's Cheryl.

Cheryl Peterson:

Thank you, Gretta. First let me start by saying what a pleasure and privilege it is to work with Dr. Styles.

While Gretta has already spoken to some of the primary messages that are part of the document, I am going to provide you with a quick overview of the four main sections: Alert - Assessment - Agreement - Action - you will notice a certain symmetry. Gretta likes things symmetrical and I have learned to appreciate symmetry.