An exclusive interview: The nurse advocate working towards systemic change in healthcare

Any of us who are nurses and paying attention at all are realizing the incredible struggle that nurses have. I think that underlying all of that is years and years and years of abuse, neglect, disrespect, and lack of support, and all of the things that go along with that. Somebody told me one time they felt nurses lost their voice when they went into the hospital - nurses were pretty much in the community prior to hospitals hiring and utilizing them. At that point, they were able to do far more in the community. The historic nurses were able to show us that nurses' perception of healthcare and medical perception of healthcare is completely different. I think the frustration, the anger, the depression, those suicidal actions that many nurses are taking come directly out of this concept of. They are experiencing moral suffering, because what they're being asked to do and what they're doing goes directly against their moral code of caring for patients and wanting to be able to provide good care for every patient they have. We're being set up in situations and asked to do the best, but not given the supplies, the break, guidance on how to handle their situation, clarity and supervision. Many of the nurses that become managers are excellent nurses that just get put into the role. I was one of them: I got $1 extra an hour and voila! You're a master! No extra training, whatsoever. I think all of that has just accumulated and run smack up against COVID, and we began to realize all the things we suspected are really true. The administration does not know what we're doing. A large number of organizations have become so business minded - everything is about trying to squeeze out the last possible dollar, not about health, and disease care is really what we are doing now.

Leanne Meier has 40 years of experience as a registered nurse in a variety of fields, including the ICU, hospice, med-surg, obstetrics, and education. She also has 17 years of management experience teaching conflict resolution. In 2017, she launched a podcast called “Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse,” which is available in 70 countries, has an audience of over 120,000, and covers a broad range of topics related to the nursing profession. Leanne frequently engages in public speaking, and is currently working collaboratively to create a nurse-led integrative medicine model to revolutionize healthcare. Her goal is to develop a new model of healthcare to maintain a patient’s holistic health throughout their lifetime. She can be reached at leanne@onceanurse.com.

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