Winds of change
Harness the energy of professional difference to create solutions, foster healing

By Joellen Koerner, Ph.D., MSN, RN
Midwest Edition Editor
July 16, 2001

Summer storms have been sweeping across the Midwest with sudden surprise, intensity and colorful displays as lightning streaks across the sky. The aftermath is either a refreshed and renewed landscape or devastation of magnitude. This summer, the strike situation in the Twin Cities was a professional mirror to this stormy natural phenomenon, leaving both restoration and destruction in its wake. What shapes the outcome of a meeting between opposing forces?

An exciting discovery of quantum physics states that the nature of matter (or being) is manifest as either a wave (flowing) or particle (solid) at any given moment. We can only hold one form at a time. (We act as oppressor or oppressed in response to our perceived meaning of the situation.)

Also, much matter is a confused mixture of both particles and waves, leading to the realization that all things are fuzzy. (While we are being oppressed we also can be oppressing others.) Simplistic views and statements miss the richness and complexity of the moment, resulting in the development of single—and often partial—solutions that confuse rather than heal.

As nurses, we stand at one of the most critical junctures in our history, a privileged and challenging place to be. The profession, individually and collectively, must heal the injuries of victimization and blame if we are to become autonomous and interdependent health care professionals for a restructured health care environment. If we fail, we will forfeit our role as healers in society.

To begin this healing, a broader perspective on some of the issues framing our reality must be understood. Historically, low salaries and lack of recognition were issues of power and control.

Today, the health care industry is experiencing protracted economic hardship, resulting in rapidly shrinking health care dollars coupled with increased demand from consumers and society. This economic reality shapes industry practice and performance for most professional roles, including medicine and nursing.

Fluctuating census based on illness patterns of society creates irregular staffing patterns. These realities are perennial; they will never change. What is new, however, is the desire of nurses to achieve more balance between work and home.

Some nursing units have moved boldly and creatively to self-scheduling, salaried status and closed units, redesigning care delivery in ways that include family members as partners in care. These professionals have taken accountability and authority for running their unit in a way that meets needs of both patients and staff in a humane manner.

Anger is simply an emotion that releases energy in the face of challenge. Harnessed, it releases the intellectual resources of a group or organization to create contemporary responses to issues under consideration.

Nurses and nursing administrators are distinct groups that depend on one another, much as they depend on patients, physicians and payers. The powerful potential inherent in interdependence can be harnessed for healing to offset the destructive power of vested interests. Artful negotiations in the Twin Cities conflict demonstrated creative "win-win" solutions to complex issues through cooperation and compromise.

After any storm, the need to restore and rebuild is essential. The profession is working in an arena laced with remains of the dark side of gender and cultural issues.

By developing the capacity to defer judgment based on outdated assumptions, we can extend our role as healers into organizations that have been damaged by the storm of discord. We must acknowledge the damage done in our past, then end the victimization by releasing blame.

Blame, like guilt, holds virtually no growth potential.

Deep healing begins within the profession when we accept responsibility to identify our individual wounds and needs, and ask for help from each other, accepting it when offered. As we attend to our own work around past hurts, we will experience the joy of sharing our healing selves with each other and the patients entrusted to our care. Healing environments will emerge, creating space for this sacred work.

©NurseWeek Publishing