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636 JOGNN Volume 31, Number 6

The Nursing Shortage: Refocusing on the Mission

It is no news that the nursing shortage is a crisis.What is a hot topic, however, is how to resolve theshortage through recruitment efforts. But at whatcost? Not everyone can be a nurse! Although hun-dreds are laid off from various fields, do they havewhat it takes to become nurses? For most of us,nursing is inborn—from birth we’ve carried thetrait of nurturing, the desire to care for and protectothers.

Nursing still has a secret weapon, and whilerecruitment is essential for the profession to contin-ue, there must be a revitalization of the existingworkforce to sustain us during the gap. Thousandsof nurses with 10, 15, or 20 years of experience stillhave 10 or 15 good years left to give. We “incum-bents” bring much to the table: wisdom, knowledge,and a sixth sense that is something you can’t putyour hand on or validate with research. We bring theexcitement, desire, and focus of a lifetime caregiver.

We must stir up this gift and rekindle the flame. Aspeaker recently said, “To be burnt out means youwould have had to at one time or another have beenlit.” We must demonstrate pride, accountability, andresponsibility for the profession. We must becomewalking advertisements of how great and rewardingthis profession of nursing really is. We have to flauntthe benefits of nursing as a career.

Refocusing on this mission gives us an opportuni-ty to reevaluate our assets. We must make a declara-tion to the health care community and the generalpublic that nursing can be counted on.

Our love of nursing is still deep, although it maybe hidden behind disappointments, too many good-byes, exhaustion, and long hours. The love of nurs-ing can be found in our daily success stories, ourmemories of victories, and in our agonies of defeat.Refocusing on the mission will renew our love for

nursing, allow us to rededicate ourselves to the pro-fession, and inspire us as we recruit new nurses forthe future.

Olinda P. Johnson, RNC, MS, CNSHarris County Hospital DistrictHouston, TX

Evidence-Based Practice

I thoroughly enjoyed the Clinical Issues series onevidence-based practice (September/October 2002JOGNN). As a maternity nursing teacher, I especial-ly enjoyed the article on the three infant care inter-ventions (“Three Infant Care Interventions: Recon-sidering the Evidence,” by Jennifer M. Medves, RN,PhD). Even though I have been teaching for manyyears, write and edit textbooks, and study evidence-based practice, I learned several new things. Forexample, I have never questioned the practice ofinstilling medication into the eyes of babies born bycesarean when membranes are intact, and I didn’tknow that breastfed babies need vitamin K, whereasbottle-fed babies receive adequate amounts of vita-min K in the formula.

A practice I would like to see studied is that ofplacing a bulb syringe in every newborn’s bassinetand teaching parents how to suction the infant. Ispent 3 months in a maternity hospital in Edin-burgh, where they do not place bulb syringes inbassinets. When I asked where the bulb syringeswere, the midwife asked me what they were neededfor. To use in case the baby is choking, I responded.The midwife looked at me and said, “These are nor-mal babies, they can handle their own secretions!”And they did.

Shannon E. Perry, RN, PhD, CNS, FAANSan Jose, CA

LETTERS