Nurses: Patient Advocates in a
Developing Health Care Industry |
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"Caring requires a
commitment... and a willingness to do the
unlovely. Neither education nor experience quite prepares you for doing the unlovely ... Caring
demands listening and observing with your whole person ... To care means to be trustworthy ...
Caring is costly. It takes a great amount of physical, emotional, and spiritual energy."
Roberta Lyder Paige, MA, RN and Jane Finkbiner Looney, MS, RN "Hospice Care for
the Adult," AJN (November 1977), pp 1812 - 1815
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Recognition of Excellence in
Nursing
Nurses Expand their Scope of Practice: Responding to society's need for access to
health care, nurses expanded their scope of professional practice. Nurse practitioners and clinical
nurse specialists began to appear in the 1970s and the ANA, in conjunction with nursing and
medical groups, addressed the questions of educational program standards, certification, and
scope of practice.
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"The kind of health care Lillian
Wald began preaching and practicing in 1893 is the kind the people of this country are still
crying for."
Editorial, "A Prophet Honored," by Barbara G. Schutt, RN, AJN (January
1971), p.53
"...her hand gave me a feeling of warmth, security, and
caring. Comfort measures do make a difference."
Karen O'Brien, Letter to the Editor, AJN (February 1973), p. 237
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"As nurses, we'll be dealt a hand in
the reimbursement game only when we have something relevant to say. It's time we started
saying a lot; our patients' welfare depends on it."
Carole P. Jennings RN, BSN, MA, Thomas F. Jennings, MA, "Controlling Costs
Through Prospective Reimbursement," AJN (July 1977), p. 1157
"For the first time since our beginnings, the profession
is taking time to openly discuss sexism, racism, entry level degrees for professional practice,
independent nursing functions, and patterns of professional growth."
Zoila Acevedo, RN; U. S. Commission on Civil Rights; Candidate for ANA
Commission on Human Rights; The American Nurse (May 1978), p. 11
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Political Action
Echoing the concerns of Lavinia Dock, who firmly believed the advancement of nursing could
not be achieved until women were treated equally in society, ANA and various state associations
expressed strong support for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
"The ANA Board of Directors at its late May sessions
here voted support of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. ... Telegrams have
gone to the entire Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives urging immediate action
to facilitate prompt passage of this amendment.'"
"ANA Board Supports Equal Rights Amendment," AJN (July 1971),
p.1293
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Economic and Professional Issues
Inequities in wages and pension rights for nurses, plus the right of nurses to be represented by
their state nursing associations in contract negotiations with employers, were issues vigorously
addressed by ANA through the decade.
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Nursing in Vietnam
"... the typical young veteran was still in military
service, usually turned on to drugs while in Vietnam or before ... Vietnam veterans were unlike
the veterans of other conflicts because they had to deal with guilt over war experiences as well as
rejection by their parents and society for having fought in an unpopular war ... They seemed
overtly hostile toward the establishment and mistrusted everyone ... As a staff ... we had been
lulled into a false belief that psychiatric casualties in this war were the lowest ever. Nothing had
been said about the intensity or complexity of the problems these veterans displayed ... As soon
as a man was stabilized on medication, we tried to give him some say in his drug
treatment."
Erika Marchesini, MS, RN "Vietnam Veterans Are Different," AJN (January
1973), pp 74-77 |
Copyright 1996 American Nurses
Association, 600 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20024-2571
All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission of
ANA. |
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