|
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Dear Colleagues, As I travel during my presidency, I meet nurse leaders who are collaborating with colleagues in nursing and other disciplines on projects related to improving health. It is exciting to see how members are creatively working and leading to achieve the mission of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. It is also exciting to hear about ways in which members around the world are connecting with each other. As I read on global health issues, I contemplate how the honor society can best support members at the local level while encouraging their involvement in initiatives that positively influence global health. The global agenda may not resonate with all members, but I believe it does with most of them. Right now, the majority of our members live in North America. What if our presence was truly worldwide, with a larger percentage of members in other parts of the world? Reasons to support such global development are many. First, it is our mission. Second, to do so is to recognize the reality of global migration and to be in tune with the social responsibility that requires all members to consider global influences on health. And third, the future of the honor society depends on growth and vibrancy. If we fail to live up to our vision and mission, we risk becoming irrelevant to our members. Last biennium, we strengthened our global agenda with new strategic directions. It is time to accelerate our momentum for turning vision into action. To encourage dialogue, the board has held a series of focus groups at international meetings in Montreal and Indianapolis, and it has invited new members and retired members to tell us what will keep them engaged in the future. Because we are diverse in age, culture, specialty and geography, it is important that members find diverse ways to live out the honor society’s mission and vision, ways that resonate with them. As president, I know that continued growth of the organization enhances our ability to contribute to the health of the world’s people. Growth specifically relates to being relevant to members and chapters outside of North America. To become more relevant, we must look hard at ourselves and the work we do as an organization. What does it mean to be global? How can we be more flexible in how we go about our work around the world—as individuals, chapters and regions? What can we let go of? What must be retained? We have had sessions with members and non-members from other countries asking for their perspectives on the global nature of the honor society. The board is working to craft the kind of global action plan that will position the Honor Society of Nursing as a dynamic and relevant organization, both now and in the future. Everywhere I go, I talk with members about what being global means to them, from a nursing perspective. For some, it means appreciating the health needs of people not only in their own locale, but also in the most resource-strapped places in the world. For others, it means learning from colleagues in other world regions, such as a group of Japanese clinical nurse researchers who met with U.S. nurses in Memphis, Tenn., in August to share how a theory-based praxis approach to nursing care makes a difference for families. For Esther C. Gallegos, RN, PhD, of Tau Alpha chapter in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, being global means leading the charge to bring new knowledge to the practice of nursing across Central and South America. This past spring, she was influential in hosting a conference for surgical nurses from every Central and South American country, raising conversations about evidence-based practice and patient safety. Under her leadership as dean of the nursing school at Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, doctoral students focus their research on human responses to key health issues in Mexico. They also partner with nurse scholars in other countries. One of the students I met spent several months at the University of Michigan, studying with a researcher to refine use of that researcher’s methods for her own study. Gallegos invited the board and me to consider the positive impact of translating into Spanish the honor society’s journal, other publications and resources. Right now, the chapter finds it challenging to retain members when member benefits and other resources are available only in English. Gallegos also believes that chapter and member growth in Spanish-speaking countries would dramatically increase if such resources were available. Other leaders at universities in South America have echoed that sentiment. We are examining the financial implications of language translation and continue to consider other strategies to broaden our global membership. I dream of looking back on 2006 and remembering it as a “tipping point” in our work of globalizing the Honor Society of Nursing! RNL Best regards,
Carol Picard, RN, PhD |
