The Fall 2023 Joseph J. Bogdan, Inc. Healthcare Professional Scholarship Winner

Elisabeth Lee Myers

Elisabeth is pursuing a graduate degree in nursing education at the University of Phoenix. The Law Offices of Joseph J. Bogdan, Inc. are honored to provide Elisabeth with our scholarship as she works to make the world of medicine a better place.

Read Elisabeth's Essay:

There is a classic quotation in my profession by Howard Spiro (1993, p.39): "Medicine treats disease and its process, everything else is nursing." In reality, "everything else" refers to all potential or actual problems caused by disease. That is a huge undertaking for one occupation alone, and one potential reason that nursing is losing so many of its professionals every day. There is little to no self- efficacy to be found in a new nurse’s mindset, which is a danger in the complicated setting of hospital nursing. There is an observed mass exodus from the nursing field in it’s current political and economic climate, and I believe that it is the responsibility of those who have the ability to create change, to do so. I have been taught many theories of nursing and spent hours breaking down the various phenomena that individuals before me found a way to utilize as tools to better the nursing field. During my time of undergraduate learning, it was made clear that the only guarantee is change.

I plan to be a pursuant of change in the nursing industry because failure toward our patients is not an option. It is no longer a “field” or simply an “occupation” to join, nursing is a culture that supports the sick and impoverished, corrects disparities, and aids those with risk for health decline. I want to mold the minds of the future nurses within this culture to create the best possible nursing environment so that when the inevitable change afflicts our patient populations, we are ready for it. I want to teach resilience within our new generation, instead of promoting the removal of self from conflict. Strength should not only be strong for those who win.

Education is the backbone of patient care and health promotion, but it also will become what upholds the future of nursing. This is why I have chosen to pursue my master’s in nursing education as a means to improve the nursing culture and help it to retain its new graduates. I plan to do so by changing the way we educate those entering the field. Contemplate how new nurses come to fruition…It's not an overnight process. Nursing identity is conventionally thought to be developed after the traditional education process, when a new nurse enters the workforce. Yet, by then the new nurse has spent years of their life without the values of their professional identity. This is a change I have the capacity to make as an educator. New graduates are simply provided information needed to create a foundation of professional skillset but are by no means able-bodied nurses to fill the gaps we are experiencing. My goal is to provide early education into developing the professional identity required to be a valued part of the workforce within the first year of practice.

COVID-19 changed the way we practiced our daily routines, virtually overnight. We are still reeling from it’s affects years later due to not having resiliency engrained into our profession. We started as the saving grace and the safe refuge for our patients. As time went on, being a hero became an afterthought. We became victims to the changes the medical industry and our culture suffered from the pandemic, seen as agents of the industry’s agenda. We became hated for the work we do, victims of retribution by angry patients. Now there are shootings, lawsuits, and a social hierarchy in the employment settings. The dichotomy of how the nursing profession has changed is guaranteed to influence new graduate nurses within their first year. This can’t be allowed to continue without adaptation to the changes we have experienced over the last several years. It’s a big undertaking, but the future of nursing can be saved through its educators. I hope that one day, I can be one of them.