Nurses make an extraordinary commitment to help people lead a healthier life and to get them through very difficult times of illness. In this economic climate, Dracup says, nurses must redefine themselves to meet the challenges ahead. I understand they have pressures to do more with less. But along with the challenges, she adds, managed care has also created new opportunities for nurses, especially nurse practitioners, midwives and nurse anesthetists. These roles have been around a long time, but they have not had the administrative support they need to demonstrate and document how they can benefit the system.
Administrators are eager to listen.
Dracup has been briefed about the issues she will face as the School of Nursing fosters a working relationship with the UCSF Medical Center, which is struggling for financial stability in the wake of the failed UCSF-Stanford merger, federal budget cutbacks and rising costs for drugs and labor. UCSF needs all of the good minds that they could possibly gather to find solutions. I hope that the academic side and clinical practice side can work together much more than they ever have. Currently, the School of Nursing is having difficulties finding clinical placements for nurse practitioner students. Nurse practitioner students are seen as rivals to medical students.