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(Note from me: you have already help with the main part of the assignment. The part that I want you to work on now is to help me responds to two post from to different colleagues. I have attached their post so read it and give a respond to their post. Just a page or less will be fine as long as it meets the discussion) Too Many Voices
- There are over 100 national organizations speaking for (or claiming to speak for) the nursing profession or part of the profession.
- Some view this as a problem—with so many voices speaking for nursing, do we appear fragmented?
- How do policymakers know whom to listen to? Others view it as a strength, showing the broad diversity of the profession.
- What do you think—is it a strength, a weakness, or a combination of the two?
- Are there any ways that you would suggest strengthening nursing’s voice?
- Respond to at least (2) of your colleague’s postings over the course of the week to continue the dialogue. In addition, please be sure to reply to those that post to your thread.
DISCUSSION POSTER 1
Too Many Voices GET HELP
The sheer number of national organizations that are representing nurses is quite impressive. At face value, most would think this is a good thing. To me, it does not matter how many organizations, associations or lobbying groups are trying to speak for nurses, what matters is the power behind that voice as well as WHO these groups are advocating TO. When there are only three members of Congress who are nurses, there are very few advocates in government who understand the role of a nurse. They do not realize the impact that nurses make in vulnerable communities, and they do not care to fight for competitive wages and benefits for nurses. The article we read about COVID-19 highlighting the gaps in nursing leadership was insightful. The authors pointed out that nursing has not had a strong enough voice and that the interests and concerns of nursing have not been well acknowledged or addressed, instead we see nurses largely silenced (Daly et al., 2020). Nursing has played a key role in the battle against COVID-19 but it considered a commodity and a transactional element of a supply chain (Daly et al., 2020). The article goes on to describe the lack of PPE and the emotional and physical toll that COVID has taken on our nurses. If nursing had a stronger singular voice, a more powerful voice, I believe that we would have had the infrastructure in place to weather the COVID storm a little better. In my opinion, we shouldn’t be relying on many weak organizations to speak for nurses, we should be building fewer stronger organizations.
I would be remiss if I did not also include my thoughts on the role of gender in this discussion. Unfortunately, the profession of nursing has been misunderstood, underappreciated, and undervalued since its incarnation. I cannot help but think that gender and cultural norms play a role in the lack of status that the nursing profession has received throughout history. Nursing has predominantly been women’s work and unfortunately in this country, when a field is dominated by women there is very little financial compensation, benefits and the voice that speaks for the profession is considered meek, mild and should simply appreciate what they are given (we could include K-12 level teachers here as well). I truly believe that this undercurrent of gender inequality bubbles all the way up to Congress prioritizing and passing or not passing Nursing Bills.
The nursing voice could be strengthened by electing more nurses to Congress and to other government positions at the state and county levels. It could also be strengthened in hospital and insurance company boardrooms. More nurses in these executive positions could make a difference at the advocacy level and improve wages and benefits for nurses. Reducing the number of associations and organizing across fewer groups could strengthen the voice of the nurse. Lastly, continuing to close the gender gap and moving towards true gender equality as a country should contribute to raising the profile and voice of the nurse.Too Many Voices