May 9, 2001
Nurses Week recognizes changing roles
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The many faces of nursing are highlight this week as part of National Nurses Week, a nationwide celebration of nursing spanning May 6-12.
From public and community health to hospital care to midwifery to education, nurses in the Grand Traverse region reflect the wide array of choices to nursing professionals.
Nursing to many means caring for sick people, either in a hospital, long-term care or doctor's office. This is still a large area of the profession, however, nurses working at the Grand Traverse County Health Department see a different side of care: prevention and education. They also bring the message to the community they serve, oftentimes directly into homes, schools and communities.
Public health nursing began a century ago, where nurses went from crowded city tenement to tenement via rooftops to contact families in need. The goals today are not much different: preventing the spread of illness and helping families and communities be as healthy as they can be.
"In hospital based nursing, as exciting as it is, you are trying to tell health related information on your turf," said Kit Mikovitz, a personal health manager at the Grand Traverse County Health Department and a public health nurse for nearly 30 years. "Being able to tell people information on their turf, before a health problem occurs, is different."
The tempo of public health nursing is also different from hospital based nursing, Mikovitz added, and requires greater self-direction from nurses in this field.
"In public health nursing, the rewards are long term," she said. "In the hospital, the wound heals and the patient is discharged. In our field, there are long term gains and goals, not immediate feedback."
Sara Masserant is a registered nurse who gets immediate feedback working in Munson Medical Center's Coronary Care Unit. A nurse for 19 years, she has spent her career in clinical practice and finds it both challenging and rewarding.
"I feel I am making a difference in patient's lives and am valued by them and their families," Masserant said.
During her career, she has seen a huge shift in the roles of nurses, some driven by the increasingly complex procedures and equipment, others by nurses' greater training and responsibility. These days, nursing staff, who has constant contact with patients, gives feedback on a patient's progress to doctors - and doctors listen to that information.
"We have become so much more technical at the bedside nowadays, the equipment is very technical," she said. "When some machines first came out a technician sat with the equipment and a majority of the nurses were not trained to use it. Now we do the machine, patient care, medications and many procedures."
"The physicians are specialized and the nurses are specialized, too, for that same reason."
Certified nurse midwife Jan McAllister believes that the profession of nursing began changing 30-40 years ago. In the field for 21 years, 11 as a midwife, McAllister believes the change reflects society's shift in women's roles.
"The nursing profession in and of itself has gone from being a very task-oriented job into a much more professional role," she said. "From a sort of dependent role into nurses being much more partners in health care than just support roles."
A labor and delivery nurse for 10 years, McAllister went for advanced professional training and is now a certified nurse midwife 'catching' babies at Munson Medical Center. She is one of five CNMs with hospital privileges in the area. She finds her career rewarding and, despite the circuitous route she took getting there and the crazy hours now, she could not imagine doing anything else.
"Midwifery is different than nursing, but it has the best qualities of nursing in it and I still consider myself a nurse," she said. "Back in the 60s, teaching and nursing were one of the few things that women could do. We are in a different position now because women have a lot of options."
Keeping school children healthy is the goal of school nurses. Sue Wilson is in her 26th year as a school nurse with the Traverse City Area Public Schools. One of five nurses in the district, she is the nurse for both high schools and serves a population of about 2,500 students. Her duties range from health and sex education to screenings to athletic physicals plus any walk in concerns that students bring her.
During her career, she has also seen the role of school nurses change, reflecting the greater responsibility and initiative shown by nurses in other areas.
"School nursing is a pretty exciting but challenging field," Wilson said. "Prior to my employment, I think they thought of the nurse as sitting in an office and putting Band-Aids on and attending to those who are ill. We have a much broader role in our district, we are more of an asset because we are not just waiting for problems."