Nurses: Life-and-death job owed more respect
Re: “Nurses shouldn’t have to fight for fair pay,” (TNT, 11/13).
The Editorial Board’s support of CHI Franciscan nurses during COVID-19 highlights the importance of having adequate, qualified staff caring for hospitalized patients.
The recitation of what nurses do barely touches their actual work, and more importantly misses the impact and outcomes they produce.
Nurses plan and deliver care and evaluate the effects of care in all settings; they teach patients and families, coordinate with other healthcare professionals, counsel and comfort patients as they heal, sometimes suffer and are with them when they die.
The complexity of their work, which looks simple to observers, requires education in sciences, liberal studies and nursing itself. The knowledge and decision-making behind each action are deep.
If we are to keep and attract more nurses to Pierce County healthcare organizations, administrators must demonstrate that they understand the value of the nursing workforce to our continuing health.
They must resolve issues of testing, paid leave in a unique situation, proof of viral acquisition and ensure that all employees are treated equitably.
We all need to feel safe, and be safe.
Linda Tieman, University Place
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 10:56 AM with the headline "Nurses: Life-and-death job owed more respect."