Use it or lose it.

I applaud the continuing efforts of the nursing profession to improve and expand nursing’s influence and impact on education, evidence-based practice, equity, and the legislative changes required to make work-life balance more achievable. I’m also painfully aware of the many issues that adversely affect the quality of life for nurses, including staffing shortages; nurse recruitment and retention; bullying in the workplace by physicians, nurses, and others; and workplace violence, which according to The Joint Commission, is perpetrated mostly by patients and caregivers.

We’re aware of these challenges inside the profession, but externally what does the public know? After all, in the eyes of the average consumer, nursing stands as the most trusted profession.

We all need to recognize that these problems aren’t caused by or unique to the nursing profession. We talk about leveraging our size and alleged influence (nursing remains the largest group within healthcare organizations) to increase the volume and strength of our voices. However, if we use that voice only to resolve major issues within our own sphere, are we tilting at windmills? Are we diminishing that potential power and influence?

In a previous editorial, I wrote about how other departments and professions experience similar challenges. Physicians, pharmacists, senior hospital executives, middle managers, and others have inwardly focused policies aimed at decreasing bullying and violence in the workplace. These challenges are systemic to an organization; they’re not present in just one department or population. However, each group behaves as if only they suffer from lack of safety, respect, and decency in their work lives. We’re not just nurses in the nursing department. We’re professionals who work as part of the entire organization.

If nursing wants to finally conquer the challenges with which nurses struggle every day, we should leverage our size and strength and lead the effort to harness the power of the other clinical professions into addressing all of these issues together. Working collectively and collaboratively, as one interconnected workforce, our size and potential influence expand exponentially. As the largest group, nurses are positioned to convene all our colleagues into a unified and collaborative force for positive change.

Part of the challenge may be that a single department is the problem that must be addressed. However, we must lead the creation of awareness about how each area impacts the other, approaching solutions as a system. We can solve some problems by fostering mutual respect and support. But I recommend a more unified approach where we all speak with one voice, creating common policies and defenses so that we more effectively deal with the big issues, such as personal safety, bullying, violence, and workplace satisfaction.

Serving for over 40 years as a nurse and nursing leader, I believe that system-based approaches offer the best option for sustainable improvements. Let’s encourage each other and nursing leaders to work outside of nursing to bring organizations together to address our common challenges. If we don’t use our influence, we’re in danger of losing it. We can’t let that happen.

Lillee Gelinas, DNP, RN, CPPS, FAAN

Editor-in-Chief

American Nurse Journal. 2025; 20(2). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ022504