Gender and Nursing

I have made a recent job change from community addictions to mental health rehabilitation. I find that challenge of working in a newly established program quite invigorating. Further, I find that the challenge of trying to forge a place within a multidisciplinary health care team has really enabled me to reflect on what I define as nursing and nursing scope of practice in mental health. I must admit that I have taken it quite personally when coworkers have shared that they view the nurses role as "pill pushers". This make me wonder, is there something that, as nurses, we are failing to do as perceptions, even within the health care system continue to view our role as very narrow and disposable. Little knots begin to twist and turn in my stomach as I hear coworkers say that they performed the role that they now observe is being filled by nursing staff. This again makes me wonder, how are we, as nurses, failing to forge our own role as distinct and necessarily filled by Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses? As it stands right now, the idea of the multidisciplinary health care team seems to be more about the other health disciplines taking away what the nurses role should be and leaving us feeling as though we are not only unappreciated but also underutilized. So, I pose the question, what happens next? How can I as an individual within the health care team help to develop the role of the nurse?

As an aside, last Tuesday Kelly, my husband, received the invitation to the UBC Nursing program. It is very exciting that in 2 years we will both be Registered Nurses. Subsequently, this also makes me wonder, although Kel will be graduating as an RN 5 years after me, will his career trajectory be more upwardly mobile than mine? I supposed we soon shall see.

M. Danda RN BN