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By Ruth Kitzmiller

The Power of Opportunity 

Each day, not just each new year, presents itself with opportunities.  Opportunities to learn and grow as nurses, leaders, and advocates committed to nursing excellence and advancing the health and well-being of those around us.  As we seize these opportunities, we capture a moment to advance the nursing profession. 

Every individual that has called themselves a nurse has advanced the nursing profession.  We do this by using the knowledge we have gained through caring for patients, formal schooling, reading, being involved in professional organizations, attending conferences, sharing ideas around the nurse’s station, being involved in interprofessional activities, and so much more. This knowledge and experience have led nursing to be the most trusted profession for the 22nd year in a row according to a 2023 Gallup survey1

How do we continue to be the most trusted profession? How do we continue to advance the nursing profession?  How do we continue to advance nursing professional practice?  Just as our beloved colleague, Marie Manthey stated in her 7/26/2021 bits of wisdom “when in doubt, just take the next first step”2

Like Marie and so many nurses before us, we must continue to “take the next first step” with each opportunity we are given. The nursing profession didn’t become the most trusted profession by happenstance, it came with hard work and dedication to us, our colleagues, and our patients.  Every encounter we have to explain nursing’s role in the healthcare system is an opportunity to increase the knowledge base of those around us and to advance our profession. Nurses have to be the voice of nursing.  We have to present our knowledge and expertise at every opportunity. 

At each opportunity convey the following: 

  • Why nursing is important to you and the person who provides you with the opportunity to explain.  Be the voice of nursing for yourself, area of responsibility, and organization. 
  • The promotion of the nursing profession.  As the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses states we promote nursing “collectively through its professional organizations”, through articulating “nursing values”, maintaining the “integrity of the profession”, and integrating “principles of social justice into nursing and health policy”3. Be involved. 
  • The advancement of the nursing profession.  As the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses states we advance “the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy”3.  Be curious. 
  • Your passion for nursing.  What about nursing excites you?  What do you want to see advanced, eliminated, or improved in nursing?  Be passionate. 

Our work to advance nursing and our professional practice is ever evolving. It is unpredictable and sometimes out of our control.  We do, however, have experts that have learned before us and have given us the tools to meet each opportunity with presence.  We just have to “take the next first step”. 

1 Jones, B. M. B. a. J. M. (2024, October 16). Ethics ratings of nearly all professions down in U.S. Gallup.com. https://news.gallup.com/poll/608903/ethics-ratings-nearly-professions-down.aspx 
2 Manthey, M. (2022, April 28). 7/26/21 bits of wisdom — Marie Manthey’s Musings. Marie Manthey’s Musings. https://www.mariemanthey.com/musings/bits-of-wisdom 
3 American Nurses Association (2017). Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. Nursesbooks.org. 

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