Robin Hertel, AMSN President, spoke of community in her ‘Robin’s Nest’ message in this newsletter. Community likely means something slightly different to all of us, but one thing community will have in common for all of us is that it invokes a sense of belonging.

It’s been a tough couple of months for nursing. In February, a nurse at Vanderbilt was arrested and charged with reckless homicide after a medication error resulted in the death of a patient. Just last month, nurses were in an uproar over Washington Senator Maureen Walsh’s uninformed comments about what nurses do.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DR. LINDA YODER, PhD, MBA, RN, AOCN, FAAN ACADEMY OF MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSES IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT BEFORE THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE FUTURE OF NURSING 2020-2030 INAUGURAL PUBLIC PANEL WASHINGTON, DC ==== Co-chair Doctors Wakefield and Williams, members of the panel, colleagues:

When we take time to care for ourselves, everyone wins: Our patients, our fellow nurses, and our families. More often than not, we spend much of our waking hours giving to others, leaving very few moments to devote to what drives our passions. I believe it is truly vital for nurses to cultivate professional fulfillment through self-care and self-improvement.

As individuals in the nursing community, we are fundamentally wired to always be listening, always be considering the needs of those around us. We assess, we plan, we implement, and we evaluate. The nursing process is the cornerstone of nursing practice. At AMSN, we work hard – month in and month out – to embody the same process when we interact with our members.