Yeahhhhhhh!!! I get to narrate the ENTIRE EIGHT-part series of The Future Of Nursing’s Podcast!
In this 8-part series from the National Academy of Medicine, we explore practical strategies for the nursing profession to advance health equity.
We’ll hear stories and experiences of frontline nurses and other health experts from a wide range of settings. These strategies reflect the recommendations from the report The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity.
All on Apple, Spotify, and EVERYWHERE podcasts are!!
There has been no better time in history than the present for black nurses to live out our full potential. So many of us have gone to college and obtained our nursing degrees. We proudly display our credentials behind our names using almost every letter in the alphabet. But I will ask you at what cost? Many nurses are broken down financially, physically, mentally and emotionally. In some ways, the harsh reality is that healthcare has a way of expecting nurses to give their all while receiving little in return. Long shifts, inappropriate ratios and unsafe conditions take their toll. Not to mention, the underlying racism and inequality that still persists.
The corporate mentality will have you believing that you have made it once you have a fancy degree and are making a decent salary with great benefits. Unfortunately, this mentality can be stagnating. It sets you up for complacency and a mediocre mindset of which I want to encourage you to avoid. This doesn’t mean that I support or am encouraging you to perform your work duties at a subpar level. I am simply suggesting that you work twice as hard building and maturing your potential to the full extent.
You are likely a first-generation nurse or you come from a long-line of nurses. Either way, you have more opportunities than ever before to be great. The duty and responsibility of the black nurse comes with a little extra. We should be creating new businesses and opportunities that focus on empowering and uplifting our people. If the example you are looking for is not there, create it. Be the example that you want to see in a world that needs to hear your voice. I am a firm believer that God has instilled within us exactly what we need to be great. This greatness gives us the ability to do things that have never been done before.
We represent generations of people who did not trust the healthcare system because of the mistreatment, the lies and the unethical practices. Our responsibility is more than just passing meds and taking vital signs. It is our duty to live up to our full potential. We are simply too brilliant and too smart not to take advantage of being at the forefront of an evolving healthcare system. This call to duty extends past the four walls of a hospital building, but into the minds, hearts and communities of each citizen.
Living out your full potential doesn’t have to be hard. It may include:
· advocating for sufficient healthcare for everyone in this country.
· ensuring that our children have safe places to play, learn and grow.
· ensuring that our elderly are cared for with dignity and respect.
· ensuring that we are making smart and savvy financial decisions.
· making sure we are taking care of our mind, body and spirit.
· making sure that we are leaving the next generation with something to build on.
· AND, using our nursing and leadership skills to build lasting legacies.
As you start focusing on your potential, please remember that what God has given to our people cannot be suffocated nor muted. It is up to you to take advantage of the amazing opportunity, we as health professionals and leaders, have to stand up for what is right, just and necessary. The potential is there, but you will have to develop and nurture it. The seed has already been planted within the depths of your soul. If you never tap into your potential, then you never discover what God has instilled into you and our very livelihood depends upon it.
Now tap into your potential and go be great!!!
Alvionna J. Brewster, BSN, RN
Alvionna Brewster has been a registered nurse since 2005, primarily specializing in cardiovascular care and preventative medicine. In 2015, Alvionna started Black Nurse Entrepreneurs in order to network, empower, and encourage entrepreneurship amongst black nurses. Currently, Alvionna is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Nursing Education with hopes of opening a nursing education center with a focus on community and clinical educational resources. She is passionate about the success of new nurses, helping patients successfully understand and manage disease processes and the advancement of African-Americans. In her free time, you will catch her creating crafts for her first business, The Creative Brewtique.
Recently, Alvionna completed her first book called Transparency: Claiming Victory in Life and in Nursing.
Many NPs who want to start a business are looking for a niche. While I started a primary care practice for women in 1985, I was ready for a change. I was looking for a niche that could provide me with a part time practice that would allow me flexibility, low stress and a healthy income. I wanted to be free of the ever increasing, administrative burdens of managing a traditional fee for service practice. Those tasks that were taking me away from face to face delivery of patient care that was so important to me.
In my waiting room I had a digital picture frame with photos from my trips. Patients would see it and ask me for advice about their upcoming trips. What shots do I need? How can I prevent traveler’s diarrhea? Should I take malaria pills? It occurred to me that there was a need for this type of service in my community and it could be a practice I could do part time.
In 2008 I opened Travel Health of New Hampshire, PLLC (www.travelhealthnh.com). I operated it on a limited basis side by side to my primary care practice until 2015 when I retired from primary care and now I operate the travel clinic part time.
Why do I think travel health is perfect practice model for an NP owned business?
1. Low cost to start – you can easily open a travel clinic for less than $15,000.
2. Perfect model for a cash only practice since most insurances wont cover travel health anyways.
3. Low overhead- you don’t need a lot of space or fancy equipment.
4. Low need for staff- I actually don’t have any. A full -time travel clinic could run with an NP and one staff person.
5. It’s easy to learn what you need to gain expertise in travel health online. Great for new grads. (www.BeaconCEU.com “The Comprehensive Course in Travel Health”.
6. You don’t need sophisticated business skills to run it successfully.
7. There is an online program that teaches you step by step how to start and run a travel clinic (www.BeaconCEU.com “Owning, Opening, & Operating a Travel Clinic”).
8. Great add on – you can add travel health as another revenue stream to an existing practice.
9. Flexibility – see patients when you want, no call, and you can do this part time while you work for someone else. Ideal for someone who wants time with their family or as a semi-retirement business.
10. And it’s fun! Patients are happy to come see you. You can spend 45 minutes to an hour with your patients and really get to know them.
Travel health is an exciting field in health care that is a perfect practice for an NP owned business. What are you waiting for?
For more information contact Nancy Dirubbo, DNP, FNP, FAANP, Certificate in Travel Health at ndirubbo@BeaconCEU.com
The power of Nursing Leadership: Difference between a leader and a boss The buzz word these days seems to be “I am a BOSS” as well as other catchy phrases as it relates to being in charge, autonomous, independent and the like thereof. I wanted to delve a bit deeper into the word Boss and how it does not make you a leader. As I was researching the word boss and leader, I came across these definitions from the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Boss- a person who exercises control or authority union bosses a mafia boss; specifically: one who directs or supervises workers. Leader- a person who leads: such as a guide and/or conductor. A person who directs a military force or unit leaders of the army. A person who has commanding authority or influence.
What stood out as a difference were the words influence, lead, guide to describe leader while a boss used words like control, authority, direct and supervise. I have 22 years of leadership experience of being a leader in the Army. The Army has afforded me the opportunity as a very junior Soldier to be placed in leadership positions above my grade level. Years later becoming a nurse, I’ve gained experience to be a nursing leader through developing both my bedside and administrative skills. I have been stationed in remote areas of the world where I was the only public health nurse and had the privilege to serve as the Garrison health consultant and be instrumental as a site surveyor in the grand opening of the child development center in Daegu, Korea. The military has taught me about peer leadership and how to successfully earn respect based on character and not just position. The military has helped me to strive to be a compassionate, hardworking and strong nurse whether it’s in the Medical surgical department, pediatric unit or disaster preparedness for family and servicemembers who staged in South Korea from the Japan Tsunami of 2011. Leadership is not defined by title, rank, degree or stature. It is born and bred and exists within. It is a desire. It is advocating and taking care of others. It’s acknowledging weakness as well as strength. It is the empowered, empowering others to be leaders. I’ve been fortunate to attend leadership courses that helped hone and define my leadership skills. Leadership has taught me that one should never compromise their moral compass to get to the top but should always carry themselves with honesty and integrity. The late Dwight.D.Eisenhower, 34th President of United States, once said, “The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity.
When discussing Nursing Leadership, it is safe to say that it is the driving force in advocating and delivering the quality of care and the patient care outcome that is essential in today’s complex healthcare system. It is my belief that from the moment you become a nurse, you become a leader. From the bedside, to the administrative role, you are a leader. As nurses, we have to take on the role of a leader, be that change agent who will leave a legacy that influences not only our healthcare system, but the next generation of nurses. The profession of nursing must find a way to afford opportunities to the most exceptional individuals, even if their journey of success was not like their own. This is an act of selfless service, to be able to embrace the entire young professional nurse in an effort to produce the greatest outcome.
I want to share with you six leadership nuggets that have guided my everyday actions and have influenced my approach to nursing:
1. Always display integrity and allow no one, no organization to get in the way of that.
2. Loyalty to yourself, your organization, colleagues and those entrusted in your care.
3. Compassion- Its ok to be firm, fair and assertive but do not lose sight of extending compassion.
4. Professionalism- Nursing is a profession, act accordingly.
5. Always put yourself in position to learn new things-Continued education is key to future success.
6. Never forget your Why.
Dr. Estacy Porter NP
Dr. Estacy Porter is a wife, mother of 4 kids and a retired Army Nurse Captain of over 22 years with her last job as Chief of Preventive Medicine Department. She is a Board Certified Advance Public Health Nurse and licensed Nurse Practitioner in Community Health. Dr. Porter is the founder and CEO of Jewel in His Eyes, a Holistic Health Empowerment program for girls and women to live and be the healthiest version of themselves as well as founder of Garifuna Nurses United, is a membership-based organization with a mission to gather Garifuna Nurses from across the diaspora together to foster a positive environment of growth, professional development and address health disparities amongst the Garifuna people. Her Doctoral Project focused on developing an executive level leadership and mentorship toolkit for Army Public Health Nurses.
