I found this to be a powerful message from the closing sesssion. I know in my 30+ career as a neonatal nurse I have often said this myself, I knew I was in an awesome profession and making a difference, but really few people expected their babies to end in a NICU, and therefore didn't understand what that meant.
I worked with a NICU nurse last night , several years experience, and we dealt with a difficult ethical situation for an infant with a lethal anomaly. As we were talking, after the mother decided to stop treatment, the nurse made a comment about what her siblings did, and that she was the lowly nurse. I had to stop and tell her that what she did for this family was so important and we need to say we are THE nurse. It is unfortunate that most people don't understand what it is that we do, on a daily basis. She IS proud of being a nurse, but I got the initial impression, it was not as good as being an engineer.
As I talk to others ( outside the neonatal world) about what I do, I find that it is difficult for them to understand the full impact we as neonatal nurses have on the lives of our babies and their families. What we do on a daily basis is not easy, but the impact we make is lifelong, even if the baby does not survive. We are important to the families we deal with daily. We need to let others know what we are as a profession!!
I love what I do, I can not imagine doing anything different. We now have such an opportunity to make a difference! And especially now. With the changes in health care reform, the IOM statement and the APRN changes, this is our time to have other's ( government, community leaders and the overall population) to understand what it is we do as neonatal nurses and APRN's in caring for the infant's and families.