COVID-19 has forced nursing to enter the world of unknowns. A world of unprecedented change where the rules are modified several times a day and new research is presented on almost a daily basis.
While our colleagues in the tech industry may see this as business as usual and an opportunity to adapt, what many don’t understand is that this level of disruption was not commonplace in nursing. While nurses are accustomed to caring for a variety of diagnoses, this pandemic has brought a type of chaos and unrest that hasn’t been experienced by the current generations in nursing. It has taken a profession that was already experiencing high levels of burnout and pushed it to its very limits.
Promotion of healthy, innovative work environments and protection of mental health must become the focus of our association if we are to match the rest of the world in the ability to adapt quickly. We ask nurses to be innovative and to help us create these cultures where new ideas are the norm, where the “aha moments” happen daily. Yet, it’s important for us to realize that mental health and innovation go hand in hand – nurses who are feeling well, who feel supported – will stop at nothing to come up with new ideas and will be much more engaged in advocating.
As an organization that seeks to empower nurses, we must ensure that those who have spent countless hours caring for others, now get the care they deserve – regardless of age, race, title or place of practice.
We must collaborate with organizations and advocate for policies to build better and safer practice environments. Failure to do so means losing nurses to the profession entirely. Based on research and the stories we have heard across the country over the past year, nurses are growing more anxious in part due to the lack of protections, unreasonable workloads, and overall lack of compassion and appreciation.
We have all been through nursing school. We know how rigorous the programs are and the sense of accomplishment we felt in adding the initials R.N. to the end of our name. With this in mind, can you imagine being at a point where you sit down and ask yourself – do I walk away from this?
We have the power to fix this. As a family that is more than 350,000 nurses strong there is no limit to what we can accomplish as one collective voice. Nothing can compare to when a group of nurses come together for one common goal – whether it be caring for a patient, making it through a 12-hour shift, or fighting a global pandemic. The results are nothing short of inspiring and courageous.
As President, my priorities would be to help lead initiatives designed to engage, empower and protect Texas Nurses:
Collaboration with healthcare partners and with existing TNA programs to expand and create multi-modal mental health programming for nurses across the state. This would include advocating for legislation that would provide grants to help establish mental health programs within healthcare organizations to provide real time care for nurses who need it.
Collaboration with healthcare partners to identify resources that could be utilized to improve healthcare environments for all providers.
Partnerships with TNSA and nursing schools across Texas to ensure new nurses have the support and resources they need as they enter the profession.
Creation of an innovative culture within TNA through the establishment of an Innovation Council that engages nurses through idea workshops, such as hack-a-thons and related programming to build creative confidence in work environments across Texas.
I believe that the President of the Association sets the tone of what is to come. For me, that means our first step is helping Texas nurses recover. From there it means working together as one strong voice to create a world that people want to be a part of. Together – we are responsible for co-creating the future. We must embrace the uncertainty, assert our nursing expertise and boldly move forward. We owe it to ourselves, our patients and our communities to create a healthier profession and healthcare system for generations to come.