Originally published October 31, 2014
By Laura L. Acosta
UTEP News Service
The voices of nurses practicing in the real world must be heard loud and clear when it comes to shaping health care policy in the United States, a senior nursing adviser told UTEP students.
“Nurses must be at decision-making tables,” said Susan Hassmiller, Ph.D., senior adviser for nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Hassmiller spoke to undergraduate nursing students at the UTEP School of Nursing on Monday, Oct. 27, in the Health Sciences and Nursing Building.
“Look at the incredible education that you’re being given,” Hassmiller told the future nurses. “This is an honor to be educated like this. Not everybody has this privilege to be educated in the way that you are being educated at this unbelievable school, and you can’t take that for granted. You can’t let anybody tell you that you’re not a leader, that you’re not important, that your voice does not count in anything that goes on whether you are at a hospital or a school nurse or a hospice nurse or a long-term care nurse.”
In her leadership role at the RWJF, Hassmiller shapes and leads the foundation’s strategies to transform the nursing profession to improve health and health care. She also serves as director of the RWFJ’s Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, which seeks to increase access to high-quality, patient-centered care in a health care system where nurses contribute as essential partners in achieving success.
This 49-state effort strives to implement the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s report on the Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Hassmiller served as the report’s study director.
Hassmiller talked about her impressive nursing career working in public health settings at the local and state level, which helped propel her to become a leader in the field.
She previously served as the executive director of the U.S. Public Health Service Primary Care Policy Fellowship with the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Hassmiller credits that experience with giving her valuable insight into how health care delivery systems lacked valuable input from nurses who were working on the frontline with patients.
“When I did this primary care policy fellowship, it hit me really hard about the decisions that were taking place in this country,” Hassmiller recalled. “Decisions about patients and health care delivery and how nurses were not part of that decision-making process. And I said, just like when I was (a nurse) in coronary care where I saw that I had to do prevention and wellness, there was a better way.”
The people giving advice to legislators about patient care were doctors, lawyers and policymakers – not nurses, Hassmiller said.
“Always be a part of the process,” Hassmiller advised students. “Every nurse is a leader. Even if you are working on a hospital floor for the rest of your career, you are a leader because people depend on you. Patients depend on you and families depend on you to be their advocate. You are there with them, you know what they need, you’re educated, and you have the understanding.”
During her hour-long visit to UTEP, which included a tour of the Center for Simulation, Hassmiller encouraged nursing students to speak up in their workplace, continue their education, and find solutions to problems instead of complaining about them.
“I think we all pretty much have an understanding of what a nurse is and what characteristics we need to have in order to be successful,” said Mayte Barbosa, a student in UTEP’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing Fast Track Program, after Hassmiller’s visit. Barbosa is one of 10 students in the Fast Track program who received a $10,000 scholarship this summer from the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program (NCIN). “Nursing is not just to have a paycheck, but you’re taking care of lives. You have to keep learning, keep performing and moving forward.”
Also taking Hassmiller’s advice were seven other RWJF scholarship recipients: Holly Alva, Matthew Castanon, Librado Rafael Rodriguez, Hilda Terrazas, Karina Nicole Valdespino, Mayte Barbosa and Jose Varela.
Since 2011, the program has provided scholarships to support college graduates in UTEP’s Fast Track Program who are transitioning into careers in nursing.
Among this year’s class of RWJF scholars is a philosopher, an anthropologist, kinesiologists, a clinical laboratory scientist who spent six weeks with her son in the neonatal intensive care unit when he was born, and a granddaughter who decided to become a nurse after she cared for her ailing grandmother.
Even though these scholars come from diverse backgrounds, they all have the same goal: to become America’s future nursing leaders.
In addition to the scholarship, NCIN scholars participate in leadership and mentoring programs, as well as a pre-entry immersion program to help them learn study, test-taking, and other skills that will help them manage the challenges of an accelerated program.
“Because of the (RWJF) program, because of the connections that we make and the speakers that we listen to, and the mentors who try to give us a vision of what health care is like being out in the field, I think we have a larger field of vision to see where patients need to be and to see what our role is so that we can be better nurses,” Rafael Rodriguez said.
All of the scholars hope to earn a Ph.D. or Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.
“I’ve always wanted to achieve more,” said Katherine Ann Torres, who has a degree in animal science. “I’ve always had two jobs and taking care of my family, so when I saw this opportunity (with the RWJF), I thought this was a great way to get my foot in the door to start furthering my education and becoming higher in the chain of nursing.”