The Nobel Prize in Nursing

[SandySummers]

The Nobel Prize in Nursing

December 8, 2006 -- Today The Baltimore Sun published "Nurses' achievements merit international recognition," an op-ed by Columbia University nursing professor Kristine Gebbie and Center for Nursing Advocacy executive director Sandy Summers. The op-ed argues that nurses deserve a Nobel Prize or comparable annual award because their leaders have long been at the forefront of health research and clinical practice. They have changed the world by reinventing health systems, pioneering new therapies, and improving community health, from AIDS treatment to neonatal care to pain management. Establishing such a prize would shine a light on the profession's life-saving achievements. It would also help show how important it is that nursing get the clinical and educational resources it needs to overcome the global nursing shortage. The publication of this piece is the culmination of significant effort by the Center. We thank The Baltimore Sun for its openness to new ideas on nursing, and its commitment to publishing the op-ed. And we urge you to read it, think about it, and show it to others. Thank you! See the op-ed...

http://tinyurl.com/yzy4lb

[SandySummers]

I wish us nurses in the trenches would get more credit sometimes.

Of course, all nurses deserve more public credit for our work than we currently get, which is why we are working to improve public understanding of nursing through improving the accuracy of nursing's media portrayals.

If our leaders get credit through Nobel Prizes, then that will bring more credit to the entire profession.

Sandy

[sanctuary, BSN, MSN, RN]

Of course, all nurses deserve more public credit for our work than we currently get, which is why we are working to improve public understanding of nursing through improving the accuracy of nursing's media portrayals.

If our leaders get credit through Nobel Prizes, then that will bring more credit to the entire profession.

Sandy

Trencher, here. Happily so. And my work has been dragged forward by the work of those who preceded me. Many of the ivory towered of psych nursing were also trench nurses, and saw the need to move our profession forward. Rarely does a nurse move to the halls of academia without a little time in the trenches. And reflected glory is still shared glory.

[sunnyjohn]

..... And reflected glory is still shared glory.

:yeahthat:

[sunnyjohn]

This sounds like a problem the Center for Nursing Advocacy could partially rectify, itself. An "in-house" prize might not carry the international prestige of a Nobel, but no doubt it would be meaningful to recipient, and it would create an opportunity for press coverage to educate the public (and us) about the role played by nursing leaders.

...

Yes. It would be a great idea if nursing groups came up with their own prize.

[SandySummers]

Yes. It would be a great idea if nursing groups came up with their own prize.

That would take some serious cash. Cash and nursing aren't exactly synonymous. We're going to float the idea to a couple foundations. But don't hold your breath.

[sunnyjohn]

That would take some serious cash. Cash and nursing aren't exactly synonymous. We're going to float the idea to a couple foundations. But don't hold your breath.

True. The Nobel does come with a $1M cash prize, doesn't it?

A smaller casg award perhaps?

How about establishing a prize more like the Macarthur Fellowships? One for a nurse in academia and another for a bedside nurse?

Fellows Program - MacArthur Foundation

I hope your group can get the funding. It is a great idea.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

True. The Nobel does come with a $1M cash prize, doesn't it?

A smaller casg award perhaps?

How about establishing a prize more like the Macarthur Fellowships? One for a nurse in academia and another for a bedside nurse?

Fellows Program - MacArthur Foundation

I hope your group can get the funding. It is a great idea.

I don't mean to sound like management, but I was picturing an award that would offer prestige in lieu of cash. Much smaller than a Nobel, but still an opportunity for press releases to the effect that so-and-so won such-and-such a prize for doing whatever. Not that it wouldn't still be a somewhat expensive endeavor just to organize, and no doubt the appreciation of ones fellows with $100K would be more satisfying than the appreciation of ones fellows with a pat on the back.

I rather like the idea of parallel awards for bedside nurses. While I have to agree with Tweety that the differences we make at the bedside are usually on a more limited scale, they can surely seem huge to the beneficiaries, and there are bedside nurses who make a difference in thousands of lives over a career. At the risk of wearing out the military analogy, the Joint Chiefs of Staff don't win Congressional Medals of Honor.

Of course, we have it in our own power to do grassroots recognition that matters. My hospital, for example, has opportunities to nominate co-workers for recognition, but even more fundamentally, there's no earthly reason nurses like me who are pretty darned happy just to get through the night without killing anybody can't express our admiration for the heroes we work with.

I really enjoyed the movie Pay it Forward. Certainly, that sort of thing seems to have more to do with fantasy than reality, but I can't help but wonder what the face of nursing might look like if we each made a resolution to compliment one co-worker during every shift we work in the new year. As much as a Nobel Prize in nursing could mean, I think I have missed too many opportunities to tell my more experienced co-workers why they are my role models, or my fellow newbies that some particular intervention was nicely done. Might just have to work on rectifying that.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

Cash and nursing aren't exactly synonymous.

Ain't that the truth.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

When I was "in the trenches" I too felt unappreciated and that I was the only one doing real nursing. Now I realize that the staff nurses simply do not have time to do research or attend meetings that support our profession or other tasks. I have talked to some staff nurses who just do not get the big picture of nursing professionalism. They think the tasks they do at bedside is all there is to nursing. That attitude can set us all back 50-100 years. So the Nobel prize, or equivalent, should be given to ANY nurse (including school nurses, Hospice, Home Health, Faculty----) who has contributed to the overall profession. I appreciate my fellow nurses, and their expertise, because I know I cannot be an expert in everything and may require their knowledge at some point in my life!

[sjt9721, BSN, RN]

"I really enjoyed the movie Pay it Forward. Certainly, that sort of thing seems to have more to do with fantasy than reality, but I can't help but wonder what the face of nursing might look like if we each made a resolution to compliment one co-worker during every shift we work in the new year. As much as a Nobel Prize in nursing could mean, I think I have missed too many opportunities to tell my more experienced co-workers why they are my role models, or my fellow newbies that some particular intervention was nicely done. Might just have to work on rectifying that."

Wow, nursemike...I like the way you think. (I was just polishing my rose-colored glasses while reading your post.) Thank you for your comments!

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

Awards aside, nurses in the trenches cannot take any time or effort to consider the theories of the ivory tower. Their theories just go right out the window when an overwhelmed nurse is just trying to make it through the day.

Maslow applies here. Our basic needs as nurses- adequate staffing, respect, time and resources to do our jobs; are lacking. Just as in Maslow's Hierchy of Needs, an individual cannot hope to fullfill larger needs if his most basic needs are not being met.

How can a nurse hope to apply or even contemplate evidenced based practice and various theories when she can't even take time to eat or go to the bathroom?

[sanctuary, BSN, MSN, RN]

Awards aside, nurses in the trenches cannot take any time or effort to consider the theories of the ivory tower. Their theories just go right out the window when an overwhelmed nurse is just trying to make it through the day.

Maslow applies here. Our basic needs as nurses- adequate staffing, respect, time and resources to do our jobs; are lacking. Just as in Maslow's Hierchy of Needs, an individual cannot hope to fullfill larger needs if his most basic needs are not being met.

How can a nurse hope to apply or even contemplate evidenced based practice and various theories when she can't even take time to eat or go to the bathroom?

:confused:

What do people think our practice in the trenches is based on??? Every time we add information to the way we do a skill (ETOH based hand cleaner to hand washing techniques, for example) it was based on somebody taking the time to do a study, and publish the results in some mag-rag. What is the stuff about "ivory tower" nursing not being involved in the trenches????? Evidenced based is what nursing has been all about ever since the first healer woman stirred up a bark tea, and watched a fever come down. The trenches are the evidentiary proving grounds for the theory!!!

We are all on the same side.