Personal Objectives

What do you hope to take away from this workshop?

OverviewWhat we will do:• Continue our exploration of “voice” and its pivotal role in

meeting AACN’s strategic objectives and vision• Learn what can help us create more effective messages• Learn how to optimally deliver our messages• Work together to begin to put form to new messages we

will be called upon to deliver

Overview

What we won’t do:

• Formal media training• Formal presentation training

A Board Member’s Role• To be an ambassador for the organization and

the profession• To extend and amplify AACN’s voice and

agenda• To educate members and constituents on how

they can best advocate for themselves and for the profession

Using Voice to Fill the Perception Gap

There is still a perception gap between how the media and key influencers view nurses and the actual value nurses bring to patient care.

Effective messages and message delivery are essential perception management tools necessary to fill the gap.

Our Rally Cry

• Why nurses’ voices must be heard• How nurses’ voices must be heard• Where nurses’ voices must be heard

Why• To ensure excellent care of patients• To effect change in the workplace environment• To educate key publics about the value of

nurses• To attract new people to the profession• To ensure that nurses continue to be the primary

advocates for patients and their families

How• In harmony, not necessarily unison, to ensure

consistency and strength of message• In audience-appropriate key, tempo & volume• In respectful collaboration with our colleagues in

other disciplines• The value of dissonant voices – how can we

learn from them?

Where• In everyday conversation—with friends,

neighbors, acquaintances and schoolchildren• In care settings—with patients, families,

administrators, physicians and industry colleagues

• In the media—letters, interviews and articles• Where the rules are made—federal, state and

local legislators and regulators

On the Spot Q&A - The “Before” Exercise

• What is AACN doing about the nursing shortage?• What is the AACN Certification Corporation?• What does AACN do?• If certification is so great, why aren’t all nurses certified?• Nursing is a tough and thankless job isn’t it?• How are critical care nurses different than other nurses?• How do nurses contribute to the care of patients?

The Art and Science of Message Delivery

What are Messages and Why are They Important?

Three is the magic number• Most people cannot remember more than three

messages• Unless you strike the right balance – most

people are lost after the first 10 seconds• If you had to remember more than three basic

messages, then you would lose interest too

The truth about messages…• Messages are sound bites• Messages contain facts• Messages tell a story• Messages shape perceptions• Messages frame issues

Messages are targeted

Audience Analysis• Audience Psychographics

– AACN members– Certificants– Non-healthcare professionals– Policy makers– Media

Balance and the Art of Message Delivery• Strike the balance between what needs to be

said and what the target audience “can” hear– Link messages to audience interest

– Three Degrees of Separation• Talk to the extended audience: The hidden audience

• Empower the messenger: Messengers need something to deliver

Mode of Communications• Written

– Industry presentations– Articles– Letters to the Media (editor)

• Verbal– Industry presentation– Conversation– Media interviews

Use a Letter to the Editor to:• Correct an error• Affirm and encourage positive news coverage• Educate journalists and producers about nursing• Educate the public• Establish your credentials• Change the way a topic is covered and increase public

knowledge about that subject• Make nursing visible

Source: From Silence to Voice, Buresh and Gordon

Letter to the Editor Tips• React promptly – ideally, within 2 to 3 days• Include your name, address, phone and e-mail• Be brief – aim for 200 words; adapt to publication• Include the name of article and date it appeared• Applaud reporter’s efforts to cover the subject• Use an even, reasonable tone

Source: From Silence to Voice, Buresh and Gordon

Letter to the Editor Tips• Don’t waste time arguing about what’s been printed,

focus on the points you want to add to the coverage• Give specific examples of what was underplayed,

overplayed, or misreported, and suggest what should be handled differently

• Make sure your facts are accurate• Offer backup information and sources

Source: From Silence to Voice, Buresh and Gordon

The Power Is In the Delivery• Visual Communications

– It is not what you say but how you say it• Communicate the PASSION• Communicate the VISION• Communicate the CALL TO ACTION

• Politicians do it best

Message Delivery• Supporting your message

– Personal stories– Facts & figures– References– Metaphors– Charts & graphs– Flagging & bridging– Personalize the delivery

Nursing-Specific Tips• Describe your work• Make the agency of nurses known• Learn to accept thanks• Be prepared to take advantage of openings• Respond well to slights• Use stories and anecdotes—have three handy• Explain the details, but avoid using jargon• Prepare ahead of time

Source: From Silence to Voice, Buresh and Gordon

Nursing-Specific Tips• Reflect clinical judgment• Don’t suppress your enthusiasm or emotion• Highlight the implications of your actions and connect

your work with pressing contemporary issues• Prepare in order to respect patient confidentiality—don’t

let it paralyze you• Deal with your fears regarding speaking out

Source: From Silence to Voice, Buresh and Gordon

Mastering the Elevator Pitch

• Critical care nursing is _____________

• What is AACN doing about the awful misrepresentation of nurses in the media and in popular culture?

Bloopers & Bull’s Eyes

Case Studies

In Everyday Conversation

Blooper or Bull’s Eye?Situation: A nurse cared for a patient over an extended time and helped his children navigate their father’s illness and ultimate death. At the funeral, the family thanked her for all she had done.

Nurse’s Message: “Oh, I didn’t do much at all.”

Better Message: “Your welcome. It was a privilege to care for your father and to work with you to ensure that his wishes for a peaceful death were honored.”

Blooper or Bull’s Eye?Situation: At a social function, an acquaintance asks, “Why did someone as intelligent as you become a nurse instead of a doctor?

Nurse’s Message: When you, or a member of your family, is in the hospital you’ll be glad that so many intelligent, ambitious women and men decided to become nurses rather than doctors.

Source: From Silence to Voice, Buresh and Gordon

In the Media

Blooper or Bull’s Eye?Situation: A nurse is interviewed by local paper about the nursing shortage and why nurses are leaving the bedside

Nurse’s Message: “It’s a horrible profession right now,” said Martha Baker… “It’s grueling,” Baker said. “You work to the bone. These are doglike conditions, practicing bedside nursing.”

Better Message: See Appendix A for Connie’s letter to the editor in response

Blooper or Bull’s Eye?

Situation: A nurse is interviewed by a Washington Post columnist about her concerns about staffing

Nurse’s Message: “I can kill tons if I’m tired,” says Barbara Crane “They come to you at 11 and say stay another shift…You want me taking care of your mom? I don’t think so.”

Better Message: See Appendix B for Janie and Karen’s letter to the editor in response

Blooper or Bull’s Eye?Situation: A nurse is asked by a reporter to describe what she did today as an example of a typical day in the life of a critical care nurse.

Nurse’s Message: “My patient was admitted from the ED with fulminating pulmonary edema. Opening PA pressures were 58 over 28, with a wedge of 30. O2 sat was 84% and his ABGs showed a PO2 of 82. He was in sinus tech with frequent runs of multiform PVCs and his SVR was 2400.”

Source: From Silence to Voice, Buresh and Gordon

Blooper of Bull’s Eye?Better Message: “My patient had too much fluid in his lungs. His oxygen levels were low, and he had many irregular heartbeats. He had difficulty breathing and could have died suddenly. So I acted quickly to reduce his fluid volume and gave him morphine to help him relax.”

Source: From Silence to Voice, Buresh and Gordon

Roll Tape

Television and Radio

On the Spot Q&A - The “After” Exercise• What is AACN’s stand on unions?• Hospital administrators don’t care about

anything but the bottom line: how can our bold voice change anything substantial?

• What is AACN doing about physician abuse of nurses?

On the Spot Q&A - The “After” Exercise• Is an uncertified nurse less competent than a

certified nurse?• If there is already a shortage of nurses, why

does AACN suggest that we should shrink the pool even more by advocating that employers hire only certified nurses?

• What is AACN doing about medical errors?

On the Spot Q&A - The “After” Exercise• Tell me more about medical errors—are nurses

just making more mistakes these days because they’re too busy or because they’re poorly educated?

• What role do critical care nurses play in palliation and end of life care?

• What is the right patient to nurse ratio for critical care?

On the Spot Q&A - The “After” Exercise• How is AACN helping nurses change the

negative cultures in their work environments?• Why should administrators spend scarce dollars

on recruitment and retention of nurses—where’s the proof that this is a good investment?

Homework Assignment• Four questions per board member• For each question, provide up to three key

messages • Messages may include references, personal

stories, metaphors, visual aids, etc.• By January 10 – is this reasonable?

Next Steps• Staff will review board member messages• Using this input, we will update existing core

messages and create new ones• Board will review and validate messages in April

Resource Review• Spokesperson Handbook• Public Policy section of Web site

– Promoting the Value of Nursing guide – Public Policy Handbook – Public Policy Tool Kit– Cap Wiz, including media guide

• From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public by Buresh and Gordon

• AACN and Fleishman-Hillard staff• Each other