In a year of finding center, finding connection is important. Nursing is relational. How do you know that you’re not alone as a nurse? When I facilitate intentional conversations with nurses, a common theme is “feeling alone.” The revelation that others are thinking and feeling the same is refreshing, re-energizing, and self-affirming. How can we “be our own nurse” and know that we’re not alone?
Could responsibility be an indicator that we’re not alone? In the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (the Code), Provision 9, Interpretive Statement 9.3 provides a shared responsibility to us as individuals and as groups. “It is the shared responsibility….” This Interpretive Statement focuses on our nursing voice in shaping and improving healthcare for all people—social justice.
We’re connected as nurses through a shared Standard and Scope of Practice and the Code, which describe our shared responsibilities. As professionals, we’re not alone in what being a nurse means—to ourselves and our society. Be your own nurse and gather. Have your own facilitated, intentional conversations. Discover that you’re not alone.
Amy E. Rettig, DNP, MALM, MSN, BSN, RN, ACNS-BC, PMHNP-BC, provides nursing care for both professional and non-professional caregivers. She presents, publishes and studies well-being (developing the caregiver within) from the perspectives of holism, caring relationships, and systems.
