Appreciating My

Role in the International

Workforce of Nurses

Donna Mason is PNurse Manager, Va

For correspondenceServices, 1314 – VTN 37232-7240; E

J Emerg Nurs 2007

0099-1767/$32.00

Copyright n 2007

doi: 10.1016/j.jen.2

P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G E

October 2007 33:5

Donna Mason, RN, MS, Nashville, Tenn

In May of this year, I had the wonder-

ful opportunity to attend the International Congress of

Nursing in Japan, where nurses from the international

community came together to share their interests, issues,

and successes. This experience reinforced to me how nurses

essentially are the same, wherever they may practice.

Workplace violence was a topic of great debate among

many countries. It was remarkable to listen to nurses from

Africa and Haiti speak on this topic. They are in their

infancy regarding dealing with violence to nurses. Hearing

them ask for advice on how to get their nurses to even

report physical or emotional abuse reminded me of where

we were in the States several years ago and emphasizes the

universality of this issue for nurses. It serves as a reminder

that we must continue to be unrelenting in our efforts in

the United States to follow through and keep our environ-

ment safe for our nurses. Nurses have made great strides

in addressing safety in the workplace, but we still have

work to do. It is the responsibility of each and every one of

us to ensure that violence is not accepted. I challenge each

resident of the Emergency Nurses Association andnderbilt Emergency Services, Nashville, Tenn.

, write: Donna Mason, Vanderbilt EmergencyUH, 1211 Medical Center Dr, Nashville,-mail: donna.mason@Vanderbilt.Edu.

;33:423.

by the Emergency Nurses Association.

007.08.014

of you to take the steps necessary at the state level to make

sure there are laws in place to protect those in the work-

place. Other countries look to the United States for guid-

ance and support in this area.

Attending the Conference also gave me the oppor-

tunity to ref lect on and appreciate the country in which

I practice. Other countries have many attention-grabbing

issues they deal with on a daily basis. Can you imagine,

in addition to dealing with other nursing-related issues,

being distressed over your nurses dying? Some nations

are losing hundreds of nurses to HIV/AIDS. Representa-

tives of Africa shared heart-wrenching stories of nurses

with the active virus working in order to support their

families and the loss of 312 nurses to this disease in 1 year.

The rate of HIV/AIDS in Africa far exceeds the rate of

any infectious disease we work with on a daily basis.

Representatives from Portugal talked about nurses in

their country who work 24 to 48 hours straight to make

enough money to survive. Many nurses in Portugal work

as many as 3 jobs full time. In comparison, our concerns

about mandatory overtime and call-back hours seem mini-

mal. Japan has crowding issues because of a length of stay

of 39 days in their medical facilities. We are a fortunate

country. We have universal precautions available to use at

all times. We earn enough to feed our families and support

our homes. And yet it seems that crowding is everywhere.

So I challenge you: The next time you are tired and

weary of working a 12-hour shift, think of the nurses

around the world and the tribulations they face. We have a

great country in which to live and practice our profession.

We take so much for granted. I challenge you to think of

other nurses doing the same compassionate work under

dire situations and appreciate the great opportunity we have

each day to work in clean, protected, and safe surroundings.

JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY NURSING 423