Most of us were glad to see the New Year dawn. 2004 is a clean slate in some respects, an opportunity to use what we learned last year and build with the energy and optimism January always brings.

One key lesson last year, one we shouldn’t have had to learn, is that our nurses matter. In their absence patient care deteriorates and outcomes are compromised. Yet nurses have become an endangered species in healthcare.

The nursing shortage is not something that happened overnight. Dozens of studies the past few years have quantified it, qualified it and outlined hundreds of reasons for it, all of which bear consideration, discussion and resolution. Some of the reasons will require complex, systemic changes to public policy, academic infrastructure and even popular culture, the place where many of our young people begin to form their career aspirations. Those are important, long-term initiatives all of us need to support.

But in the meantime, there are some straightforward, practical things we can do that will help protect our nurses – and the patients theycarefor.

• Protect them from your assumptions by listening to them. From my own experience, I can vouch for the fact that some of the best ideas come from the front lines. It’s not a matter of having a suggestion box or a contest. It’s about fostering a culture that engages every person in making healthcare better. There may very well be a better, more efficient way to do something. You may need to be using more of something, less of something else. But if you include your nurses, if you solicit their ideas, you’ll gain unique insight and perspective into how you can help them do their jobs better. There are half a dozen product redesigns we’ve done this year that came from listening to the people who use our products every day, things we’d not considered that would improve the comfort of a gown or the way in which things are packed in a kit. This kind of insight can be gained only from those who actually do the work, and it’s the kind of dialog that can benefit every aspect of the healthcare environment.

• Protect their time. Time is one thing most nurses need more of. Time to spend with a patient, time to ease a fear, hold a hand, tell a joke. There are some great lessons to be learned by studying how manufacturers work to improve their workflow processes — simple things such as keeping like items together, visible and labeled, and storing them in a center workstation, not in some closet at the end of the hall. The "lean manufacturing" and "Six Sigma" ethics have been built on defining the absolute best process then teaching people to use that process over and over again. Routine leads to efficiency. Process mapping improves flow. It all frees up time for the things that matter most.

• Protect their workplace. Not because of government mandates, but because organizationally you fundamentally believe your nurses deserve it. This may seem obvious, but think about it. In today’s cost-driven environment, we’re all pressured into making decisions that balance risk. But there should be a zero tolerance risk environment in healthcare. Whether it’s OR fire prevention or providing protection from pathogens known and emerging, many of which are becoming more and more antibiotic resistant, refuse to compromise when it comes to your nurses’ safety. Support the objective standards-setting done by ASTM, AAMI and professional associations such as AORN, and insist that the products you buy and the protocols you use follow the guidelines precisely. And let your nurses know you are doing so because their well-being is a critical decision factor, not an afterthought.

• Protect their access to knowledge. Nurses crave it. They need as much access as possible to proven clinical data turned into solid information that healthcare professionals can act on. Programs that come with precious CEU and CME credits have high value. Online training, print publications, videos, meetings large and small are all ways knowledge can be transferred to the people who need it most. Nurses need the technical knowledge that tells them what products to use, when to use them and how. They also need contextual knowledge. From labor law to the impact of HIPAA, from marketing to revenue cycle management, nurses benefit from understanding the changing context of their jobs. The Georgetown University Healthcare Leadership Institute has proven to be an extremely valuable forum for this knowledge sharing. The lesson is that education is no longer a nice employee benefit; it’s a fundamental requirement to engaging your nursing staff for the long term.

• Provide products that protect them. When your nurses reach for a gown or a glove, for a catheter or a syringe, they need the confidence that the item will perform at the highest level for the task at hand. A healthy evaluation of "cost in use" is a much better way than line item pricing to make sure your nurses can rely on the products they use every day to provide the highest level of protection for both them and their patients. That’s what allows you to maintain (and defend) a product mix that provides the right level of protection needed at any point of care. And hold us in the supplier community accountable for making sure that each and every product we provide meets the highest quality standards possible.

I have spent a lot of time in hospitals during the course of my career as part of a global supplier to the healthcare business. But this past year my perspective was decidedly different, because I spent much of my time in hospitals at the bedside of a loved one. And I can tell you first hand, there is not a more caring, tireless, patient, good-humored group of smart people on the planet than those who serve in the nursing profession. They provide skill, compassion and a single-minded focus on patient well-being. They give healthcare its heart.

Let us all resolve that 2004 will be the year we step up our efforts to provide our nurses with the kind of protection they deserve. Or we’ll find ourselves without them. HPN

Joanne Bauer is president, Kimberly-Clark Health Care