"Quotable Nurses"

“New graduate nurses are the future of nursing. They need a quality clinical orientation and training program that provides educational clinical experiences and critical information to practice nursing as well as nurture their soul. Experienced nurses who precept new graduate nurses are the cherished possession of the profession. Preceptors provide the necessary ingredients for a quality clinical orientation and training program for new nurses.”

Sylvia Bertram
Preceptor Backfill Program Manager
HRSA Internship Grant Director

“Education is essential to keep nurses current and proficient in their practice. Technological advances make it possible to consider a range of educational alternatives. Using online, videoconference, videotapes, DVDs and the traditional classroom setting can begin to address educational access issues. Finding a balance between the variety of educational modalities available, and making use of new methods as technology develops, will be what keeps nursing competent and abreast of the changes in healthcare so they can provide an excellent care experience.”

Bobbi Knapp, RN, BSN, MPA/HAS, Manager, Distance Learning Programs and Performance Based Development System teams, Cross Regional Patient Care Services

"We need to make Hispanic students aware of their career choices and that education is affordable. Counselors and teachers can give them guidance to help them overcome financial barriers and learn that scholarships are out there. Parents need to be part of the discussion because Hispanic families traditionally make decisions as a family. Nursing is more than you can ever imagine and for me it's been a career full of excitement and endless possibilities."

Sandra Castillo, RN, MA, EdD
ADN Instructor
Contra Costa Community College

"The threatening supply of faculty prepared to teach in our schools of nursing and the extent to which faculty are prepared to teach is tantamount to the success of our students. The challenge is to move nursing to a strategic level, overcome the barriers of the past and develop innovative educational processes and support systems to meet the needs of TODAY’s student nurse!"

Rosiland Hartman, RN, MSN
Director of Health Sciences
College of Marin

"Tomorrow’s workforce will largely come from California’s diverse demographics. The opportunity to influence a meaningful change so that California’s nurse workforce mirrors the community it serves is NOW! Our outreach efforts must be tailored and developed to attract individuals who are currently under represented. Our successes will reflect an increased representation of males, Latinos, and African Americans in nursing school enrollment, retention, graduation, and licensure. The achievement of a diverse workforce has become not only 'the right thing to do' but a community imperative."

"The number of students in the educational pipeline is not adequate to meet the projected demand for the vast number of new nurses over the next decade," says Linda D. Gregory, CNCC's newly appointed Project Manager. "HOSA is not just patching the leaks. It is helping to rebuild a pipeline that is stronger and flows in both directions."

The public's image of nursing is stuck in the 1950s. Many nurses work as case managers, consultants, informaticists, or in other non-traditional roles these days. Nurses work in many settings besides hospitals. "There's a whole universe of nursing out there that the public is not widely aware of."

Dan Mezibov
Spokesperson for the
American Association of
Colleges of Nursing

Thirty percent of working nurses are over 50 years old and only 10% are 30 or under. That means there is no pipeline to fill future vacancies. "Hundreds of nurses were asking us how they could help the Coalition bring a new generation of young people into the profession, the Ambassador for Nursing program is our answer," says CNCC Executive Director, Susan Cheney, RN.

"I don’t think that movies accurately portray nurses as they really are," said Susan Woods, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, associate dean of academic programs at the University of Washington School of Nursing. "We have nearly 6 percent who are men. We have nurses who are researchers, scientists and teachers. I don’t think there’s anything [in film] that portrays the scope of what a nurse does."

-Nurseweek Magazine