The best way to get the public to understand nursing is to reach beyond the hospital walls and start teaching. Improve our real-world image. Over the years, nurses have complained about our image in the media, about sexy nurses with caps in sitcoms and ads. But we ve ignored the image we create every day, the way we look when we re having contact with real patients. Nurses need to get out of their pajamas.
Nursing has more individual contact with patients than any other health profession, every day.
But the image we re creating isn t particularly professional. I didn t have a ready answer. Get a clear, unified professional message. There is no one voice for nursing at the statehouse, in the media, or anywhere else. Frequently there are nurse lobbyists in Sacramento testifying on both sides of an issue.