Connecting with my People

I am a firm believer in connection with professional organizations, whether they focus on academia, scholarship, hospital practice, or whatever specialty. The good news is that joining nursing organizations is still all about nursing and celebrating the profession and making it and circumstances surrounding nursing and patient care better.

I have focused the past quarter-century on academia and the professional organizations and groups that cater to nursing faculty and nursing school administrators. I made many good friends, life-long friends who share the goal of excellence in and advancement of nursing education. These were my people. We advocate(d) and often compete(d) for resources that improve access to nursing education and the realities of nursing presented to students at all levels. 

Now, as I change the focus of my nursing career from the academy and to entrepreneurship, I have learned to let go of the pure academic connections so that I can embrace my new non-academic connections with both hands. It is not that I am never looking back with fondness for what has been the bulk of my nursing career, because I will always have the heart and mindset of a teacher, but now I eagerly anticipate new friends and new connections.

Almost all of my new people are nurses, just like the others. Even though the focus is changing, the basics are still there.  We still speak the same language, nursing, and we have the same primary orientation. Phrases like nursing process, outcomes, objectives, teaching, content, etc., which are every-day terms in education, are used with my new friends. And great news! We all know what we are talking about, and we understand each other.  We are still nurses, and though the focus has changed, the core is the same.

Nursing is a great profession. No matter what setting, field or focus, nurses are the same basic professionals. They are my people.  Even though my new connections are not in academia like my previous connections, I still feel the comfort and excitement of being at home with them, because they are nurses.  I am just as eager to partner and team with them for the good of the profession, the patients, and the public as I have ever been! 

More later.