Changing perceptions Part of appealing to a younger generation is updating traditional notions of nursing. Sigma Theta Tau is producing a brochure with firsthand accounts of nurses' successful patient care. The stories help in two ways, Dickenson-Hazard said. First, people respond to personal stories, and second, students may not realize there's more to nursing than the traditional white shoes and cap. There are so many opportunities.
Nurses can be political workers, publicists, journalists, speakers, researchers.
We've expanded into so many different avenues. Eighteen national nursing groups, including Sigma Theta Tau and the ANA, formed a task force to educate people about nurses' roles in 2000 and beyond. The organization is raising money for a national advertising campaign to update the image of nursing. That's still true, but you have to also look at things like retention. That could be part of the problem.