“Give the Profession a Little Swagger”

Nurses will be the leaders in our reformed healthcare system. That was the clear and motivating message from Dr. Donna Shalala, our wonderful Commencement speaker yesterday.

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.

Global Health in a Connected World

Here in the U.S., domestic health care reform is at the forefront of public and political discourse.  But ours is not the only health care system that faces such challenges as access, equity, and quality. On Friday, Penn Nursing will host a discussion of “Global Health in a Connected World.”

Colleagues from Penn’s School of Medicine who share my passion about global health will join me to talk about the role of public and private institutions - governmental, educational, and philanthropic - in shaping global health systems.

Even as we delve into this topic here on campus, our Penn Nursing faculty are playing important roles in health care around the world.

As I write, Dr. Wendy Grube is with a cohort of Penn Nursing students in Thailand, where nurses and midwifery comprise 70 percent of all health personnel. Our students are in a course comparing healthcare systems in the U.S. and Thailand within the context of culture, politics, economy, and environment.

The group travelled from Bangkok where they explored urban health-related issues and services, then North to Chiang Mai to better understand regional diversity. Wendy writes:

“This morning we went to visit an orphanage for abandoned children. Many of these have lost parents through death, but many are there because their parents are currently unable to care for them. HIV is a significant problem in this region, as is drug dependence. As an aside, the area at the far north of Thailand (the Golden Triangle, including neighboring Laos and Burma) was at one time the largest opium poppy-producer in the global market. This orphanage is government-subsidized, and the budget is quite limited. But the children appear healthy and happy, although starved for affection. They actually ran to the students, taking their hands to walk with them . . . they snuggled into laps and climbed all over us.”

Such enriching experiences prepare our students for the global reach of the nursing profession they are about to enter. The benefits continue after the conclusion of the course: Students have the opportunity to cultivate international nursing collaborations with fellow students at Thailand’s Mahidol University, and together construct new paths toward reducing healthcare inequities on a global scale.

Photo: Making herbal compresses, a Thai traditional medicine.