Nurse Appeal: Profession tries new tactics to woo next generation of nurses    |
| What do you think? Email us at [email protected] For more informationTo find out more about nursing organizations’ efforts to encourage young people to choose the profession, contact these groups:The National Student Nurses’ Association (212) 581-2211Sigma Theta Tau International (888) 634-7575American Nurses Association (800) 274-4262 | Photo: PhotodiscWith an aging nursing population heading toward retirement and healthcare organizations scrambling for specialized care workers, national nursing groups have stepped up efforts to attract more young people to the profession.“We’re already in the act of doing a number of things,” said Nancy Dickenson-Hazard, RN, executive officer of Sigma Theta Tau International. “We’re trying to raise public and professional awareness about nursing and the nursing shortage. We want to attract people to the career.”That’s the thought behind a new MTV-style video, coming soon to a junior high school near you courtesy of the National Student Nurses’ Association. Executive Director Diane Mancino, EdD, RN, said the video will target students in the eighth, ninth, and 10th grades with the hope of catching them before they’ve made a career decision.Sound too early? Not according to Mancino. “By ninth or 10th grade, kids have started already deciding which area they want to go into,” she said. “You have to get to them earlier and give them the information they need. If you wait until 12th grade, it’s too late.”Laying the foundation“If you wait too long to get to these kids, they’ve already started thinking about what they’re going to do,” said Joan Meehan-Hurwitz, director of communications for the American Nurses Association (ANA). “It’s too late by then to move into the nursing curriculum. They may not have the necessary science or math classes.”Hence the video, which is currently in a script rewrite. The montage of clips will include information on accredited nursing schools, the application process, and opportunities in health care, including specialized care. Videos will be shown at career fairs, in classrooms, and guidance offices across the country.“The [shortage] trend is cyclic,” Mancino said. “You could see it coming—this began two years ago. We wanted to start doing something now, before it becomes a crisis.”Changing perceptionsPart 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. “The nursing profession has changed dramatically,” she said. “There are so many opportunities. Nurses can be political workers, publicists, journalists, speakers, researchers. We’ve expanded into so many different avenues.”That’s where the concept for “Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow” comes in. 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. “We’re using many of the strategies we used before, but when there’s a more pronounced nursing shortage, you have to be able to update,” Meehan-Hurwitz said. “In the ’80s, the National Ad Council sponsored ads that said … ‘If you care enough, anyone can be a nurse.’ That’s still true, but you have to also look at things like retention. That could be part of the problem.”Still, it seems many groups are well on their way to recruiting the next generation of nurses. “Everyone needs a presence in the new media,” Meehan-Hurwitz said. “That’s the place, and the key is young people.” |
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