As noted in a previous post (The Incredible, Invisible Nurse), I discussed how nursing is often absent in any and all media coverage of health care.  We are the pointless individuals in medical TV shows, who hand doctors stuff, are mostly mute, and roll our eyes at the nurses’ station.  Rarely are our opinions asked regarding anything to do with health care.  (Thank God for blogs).

So, when the leader of the free world gave a shout- out to nurses in his first on- line town hall meeting, I almost pissed in my scrubs.  Oh come on, like you have never almost peed yourself on one of those 12 hour shifts with no break. President Barack Obama took a question from a nurse regarding nursing representation in health care reform.  Nurse Linda was unfortunately a little bit too fawning and star struck in her presentation, but at least she brought nursing to the forefront of the national media.  Here is their exchange:

Q My name is Linda Bock and I’m a registered nurse just in Prince George’s County, Maryland — been there 34 years at a free senior health center. And I’m here with my fellow nurses from SEIU. First of all, thank you for listening to us, because as nurses we do listen to our patients all the time. We’re their advocate. And so we appreciate this opportunity for you to hear from us.

One of the things we want to make sure is that nurses are represented in the health care forum committees — reform committees because we want to be there on behalf of our fellow nurses and on behalf of the patients that we sometimes have to speak up for. So I really hope that we can be there so we can push the things like prevention and education that are so very important so that we don’t use our emergency rooms for their doctor visits and that we have more community-based health centers for those that are in need. And I just — I really appreciate this opportunity to be heard.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate that. I guarantee you nurses were part of the health care summit, and they will be at the table in all these discussions. I’m biased toward nurses, I just like nurses — (laughter). When Michelle and I went in and Malia was being born, the OB/GYNE was a close friend of ours and so was much more attentive than the usual OB/GYNE might be. But the fact is, we only saw her for like 15 minutes. The rest of the time, it was nurses who were doing everything. When Sasha, our little precious pea — (laughter) — she got meningitis when she was three months old — very dangerous. The doctors did a terrific job, but, frankly, it was the nurses that were there with us when she had to get a spinal tap, and all sorts of things that were just bringing me to tears.

And we’ve got a problem in this country, which is we have a shortage of nurses — makes no sense, given this unemployment rate. But the reason is, is because the pay of nurses, the hours of nurses, the quality of life of nurses, the fact that nurse professors are even worse paid than the nurses themselves, so that you get these huge bottlenecks in terms of training as many nurses as we want.

All these issues are part of the inefficiency of the health care system that has to be fixed. And the more we’re emphasizing primary care, preventive care, wellness — all of which will save us money in the long term — the more that we can deploy nurses as the troops on the front lines in ultimately driving down some of these health care costs.

So I think it’s very important that nurses are a part of this process.

(For full transcript, click here:  NY Times)

Again, the interaction to me seemed a little bit staged, with the mention of the union to the presidential butt-kissing approach to the question.  (What the hell was her question anyway?).  But, this is all besides the point.  It was so refreshing to see the importance of nursing mentioned on the national stage.  Regardless of your politics, I am hoping nurses were thinking, finally!

I am glad that President Obama is “biased” towards nursing, because I sure am.  It is about time someone in power is.  Maybe it takes a person who has actually had to deal with multiple hospitalizations to realize what the heck it is that nurses really do.  Nurses are anything but invisible in the hospital setting.  As the president pointed out, it was nursing who helped his wife bring a child into the world, and it was nursing that was present at the bedside, supporting his family during a medical emergency.

Put your call lights on and answer me this:  If you had the opportunity, what would you have asked the president regarding nursing/health care at the town hall meeting?

RR