In this issue we celebrate nurses in different roles and highlight the impact that nurses make by influencing each other and the community. Brene Brown said “To be heard is to be honored and to be recognized is to be valued” (Brown, 2012). We need to celebrate nurses and share their contributions to a healthier community.

We need to honor all voices. We as nurses need to support and learn from one another. Our interactions with others help inspire us to achieve more and develop new solutions to some of the problems we face. Our experiences create life lessons for us.

We need to recognize and talk about the value of nursing. How would you describe nursing’s value to a colleague or neighbor? Are you familiar with the term value-based health care (VBHC)? Have you heard of the National Nurse Provider Number (NPI) as a unique nurse identifier? Read the article to identify ways we can show the value of nursing.

Have you ever been mentored by someone, or have you served as a mentor? Nurses strive to support and learn from each other through mentorship. Mentors provide help, offer suggestions, and assist mentees’ professional growth and development. The article on Emerging Nurse Leaders: Mentors who Set the Stage outlines one nurse’s experience with mentors throughout her career.

How can you advocate for nursing? One way is through the political area. Politics is about influencing, which implies some capacity to make a difference in the outcome of a decision. One way we can advocate is through being an informed voter and supporting others to vote. Read the article on Nursing Advocacy and Voting for more information.
There is a list of ANA-Ohio nurses who have received various awards and recognition. We know that there are many more members who have received awards and recognition at the local, state, and national level, and we want to celebrate those who provided their information for us. Every nurse is a leader and should be recognized.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) made a strong commitment to promoting healthy work environments in 2001 and led the development of 6 standards that are the foundation of healthy work environments (AACN, 2005). These standards—skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership—support improved outcomes for both patients and nurses and for the health care team. This issue focuses on meaningful recognition. Meaningful recognition has a positive influence on nurses’ personal and professional growth and has a positive impact on organizational outcomes. It can be a valuable strategy for retention and recruitment and can help mitigate the effects of compassion fatigue.

Commit to yourself and others by identifying ways to provide meaningful recognition and set a goal to provide meaningful recognition to individuals you interact with. By identifying ways to provide meaningful recognition and recognizing colleagues and others who have influenced you, you can help promote positive outcomes to create a healthy community. It can be as simple as thanking a colleague at the end of the shift.

We hope you will enjoy learning about different nursing roles and the the value nurses bring to healthcare arenas when reading articles in this issue.

References

American Association of Critical Care Nurses. (2005) Healthy work environment standards. Author. Retrieved from https://www.aacn.org/nursing-excellence/healthy-work-environments

Brown, B. (2012). Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. Penguin Group.