Celebrating International Nurses Day May 12, 2021 Nurses: Their Voices & Vision

The current environment and the experience during this COVID era more than ever  usher in a need not only to recognize the stalwart role of nurses the world over, but to establish priority areas on which the profession should concentrate in order to prepare for future human development.  This as I understand it, is the message of this year's International Nurses Day theme, ‘A Voice to Lead: A Vision for Future Health Care’.  It  resonates in the significance  we place on  May 12,  the 201st birth anniversary of the legendary nurse, Florence Nightingale.  
 
GOFAD was honoured  last year when Sir George Alleyne presented the International Nurses Day blog Nursing Now and Forever  in which he  aptly made the point that  Covid-19  brought into the sharpest relief one of the most critical roles of nurses that sometimes seems to be taken for granted.  He referred  to  the discussions of “the technical advances in the profession and the loud and proper cries for them to take leadership roles in for example primary health care and universal health coverage”.
 
Over the past  year, the role of nurses globally  has been amplified as the number  coronavirus cases (based on WHO tracker)  ballooned from 5,934,936 to 160,074,267 and the number of deaths from 367,166 to 3,325,260.  By having to cope with the burdens of this exponential increase in caseloads, nurses are often the health care providers with the most patient contact, those who are 'comforters in chief' and who are viewed by patients frequently  as more approachable. They are at the heart of health communications. They are patient advocates. This  means that  nurses are more likely to encounter patients spreading misinformation, which gives them a special opportunity to intervene. But this pandemic has thrown so much more at them. It placed increasing demands on them, creating physical strain for frontline workers  and  psychological strain  for those losing patients, co-workers and loved ones.   It has led to the interpretation from  the 19th annual Gallup Poll (April 2021)  that in the USA, the pandemic has definitely taken a toll on medical frontline workers. “It isn’t necessarily what they signed up for”. 
 
Yet for the 19th year in a row, according to this  recent Gallup Poll, nurses were ranked as the most trusted and ethical of 15 professions. In fact, even as they came through the pandemic—their toughest year in the survey’s history—nurses’ approval rating rose another 4 percent.
 
Building a New Vision for the Health Workforce 
 
McKinsey and Company: 2021 Future of work in Nursing— our newest survey of 400+ frontline medical frontline workers resulted in arriving at four broad strategies for building a new vision for the health work force:

• Make workforce health and well-being part of the fabric of the organization with increased availability and access to resources including for mental health.
• Increasing workforce flexibility  with respect to scheduling and workforce deployment. 
• Reimagining delivery models utilizing digital tools and including  opportunities for applying and integrating the new technologies to enhance the  workflow.
• Strengthen talent pipelines and build skills for the future by making changes in  the care model, and giving nurses as much of a voice as possible in the governance of their hospitals or clinics.

 
The bottom line is that these strategies  are  applicable widely.  In many countries, including those in the developing world,  hospitals accelerated the uses of tech devices at the bedside that could integrate with patient records such as tablets for communication, and other forms of virtual monitoring. As a result,   these developments could lead simultaneously to other opportunities for nurses  to provide remote patient care in the future; have cost effective use of technologies rather than just having them as additional  costs and burdens that  nurses need to deal with every day; and delivering inputs to any aspect of a health system that affect their work: from hiring of team members, to ordering and use of  supplies. (see attached)
https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/new-at-mckinsey-blog/what-do-nurses-want-a-stronger-voice
 
 
The changing dynamics of COVID-19  on healthcare systems are relevant  to  institutions training the community of nurses in a variety of roles.  Some undertaking original research to help clients understand and navigate a complex, ever-evolving regulatory landscape. Others working in professional development to help colleagues map out careers and build capabilities. Yet others serving in the social sector community practices and outreach in collaboration with  physicians and other clinicians, like pharmacists. These are tasks that can be done in multiple ways to have impact on people’s lives, either one-on-one with patients and families or at a larger-scale at the systems level. 
 
But there is another compounding factor which brings the softer  skills of nurses into play. Bogus claims about the virus, masks and vaccines have exploded since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic a year ago.  Journalists, public health officials and tech companies have tried to push back against the falsehoods, but much of the job of correcting misinformation has fallen to the world’s front-line medical workers.
 
Conclusions Voices with Visions 
 
I end with three random quotes that summarize the essence of how voices of nurses  may shape the vision for the future that we celebrate. 
 
“As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. They may not remember your name but they will never forget the way you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou.
 
Nursing is not for everyone. It takes a very strong, intelligent, and compassionate person to take on the ills of the world with passion and purpose and work to maintain the health and well-being of the planet.” – Donna Wilk Cardill,  Nurse consultant, McKinsey 
 
Nursing for the future will be a dynamic and exciting endeavor. I urge you: embrace new clinical technology, focus on professional development and seek out opportunities to increase knowledge and gain expertise. You are our champions for a better, healthier future and together we continue on our path to provide comprehensive quality health care.  Again. I salute you! Sandra Barrow Chief Nursing Officer (GP)Barbados
 
 
Eddie Greene