With three million nurses in the United States, Dr. Shalala said, nursing professionals “hold the power and influence to make those numbers speak” in the new era of healthcare. She is in a position to know: Dr. Shalala, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and current president of the University of Miami, has spent her career working tirelessly for health, knowledge and empowerment for all people. And last year, she chaired the Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the Institute of Medicine. The committee reported on the crucial role of nurses in healthcare reform.
Yesterday, Dr. Shalala told our Penn Nursing graduates that their expanded role under the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act should “elevate nursing to its proper leadership place in the health care pantheon.”
She called on our graduates to claim a leadership role in health care reform: to ensure that their voices are heard “on rounds and on the record,” to demand “full partnership with physicians,” and to “give the profession a little swagger.” I couldn’t agree more.
“I strongly believe a Golden Age of Nursing is right in front of us,” Dr. Shalala said, “if we seize the moment. It will not come to us. All of you must go and get the future of nursing – it will take guts, heart, and a lot of skill.”
Our graduates are ready not only to meet this charge, but to lead the way.
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