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Next Greatest Generation
Totally awesome! "Sweet" as my nephews would say. Delegates at the June ANA House of Delegates witnessed what I believe has the potential to be the next greatest generation of nurses.
Seriously, I don’t remember a time in my professional involvement where nursing students and recent graduates attended and actively engaged in our bylaw and reference discussions as much as they did. You can’t drag some nurses to these meetings even if they are reimbursed. These individuals came and paid their own way. They are different. They were organized, articulate, determined, professional, and politically savvy in their comments and questions on the issues being debated.
I thought to myself, the profession will be in good hands. This generation of nurses is determined, have different and higher expectations than previous generations, and will not settle if issues are important to them. They want balance in their lives and will not allow employers to abuse them by poor working conditions, i.e., inappropriate staffing, lack of equipment, lack of respect, etc.
Our profession needs nurses who will set a coarse and then go about changing it. Congratulations and thanks to those future nurses. Let's hear from you.
Picture, from Left to Right: Lisanna Gonzalez, Gyasi Moscou-Jackson and Rebecca Patton.