50// Beyond the Bedside: How Nurses Can Influence Politics and Policy

What a milestone!! This is my 50th episode. I decided to get a little personal and controversial even for me. I pray it blesses you and directs you on your next steps in advocating for your patients, families, and yourself. 

This episode discusses the current political climate and its effects on nursing. You must advocate for yourself and your patients. I also stress the role of faith and prayer in navigating difficult times, encouraging a focus on spiritual grounding. I urge you to contact your political representatives by phone and email. 

You must know your values and stand up for what you believe in professionally and personally. It's time for you to rise and make your voices heard.

Transcript

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Are you feeling stuck in your current clinical environment? Do you want to make a change in your nursing career but not sure what to do next? Exhausted, burnt out, and maybe even ready for different leadership? I'm Bonnie Meadows, a board certified nurse. Clinical Nurse Specialist, Influential Leader, Career Coach, and Well Being Coach. Being in the nursing and healthcare profession since 2004, I have felt stuck and unsure about what was next for me. I wanted to be fulfilled in my purpose, to have a voice at the table. And to be a resource for others, I kept telling myself I wanted more, but didn't have the direction I needed until I found clarity and career growth strategies for experienced nurses like me. In this podcast, you will find. Simple tactical steps that allow you to gain the clarity you need, solutions for how to grow even without supportive leadership, and guidelines for setting boundaries at work so that you can grow purposefully in your career as a nurse with a graduate degree who makes a huge impact in the profession. So get ready to trade your scrubs for yoga pants. Pop in those earbuds and let's chat. at the time of recording this episode. We have a new president and many things of what that president talked about in their campaign has come to pass. Some of it, we knew. About some of it, they denied, but it's all coming to fruition. Much of it, I would say, probably, if I were to guess, at least within my circles, and I run in a bipartisan circle. So I'm just going to say right off the bat, this is an unusual, conversation for me to have on the podcast, but it has much to do with your leadership as a nurse and your growth in your career. because we don't grow in a bubble. We have to move with the trends. but also still stay steadfast to who we are and what we believe. We have to be open to changes in the environment and in other areas of the world. nursing theories, a lot of times they will include the nurse, the client, or the person that we're caring for, the environment. And Health in general, usually those, some of those are the concepts of it. And so when we are growing as leaders, we have to look at things from that perspective of what is the health of what is going on in healthcare? How does that impact our patients? How does that impact the profession? How does it impact me as a person? And then how does it impact the environment, the greater good, the people, the way our systems run within my neighborhood, within my city, within my county, within my state, and then within the nation. And so there's a lot of disruption that is going on. Right now, I don't think that anyone can dispute that there is a need to look at what we're spending on, why we're spending on it, or whatever the case may be. But there is a process that we Should go by in order to not cause total disruption to people's lives. Because then that total disruption leads to stress. And we've got enough stressors to deal with on a daily basis. intentional unstableness to an environment and people's stress levels just go completely out of whack. and there are two things that I strongly want you to consider because we've gotten ourselves to a place and. Some of you who are listening, you might be very happy with the person who is now in office and some of you may have been very upset right after the election. and I just want to come out here and reiterate it because I am a woman of faith and I truly believe. That God is the author and finisher of everything, every single thing. He's not clueless to what's going on. But he's also all powerful, all wise, all knowing and all seeing. And the one thing that just really dropped on me after the election, regardless of whether you were really, really excited about who won, or if you were really sad. The one thing I thought about was, after all is said and done, we should not be so reliant upon man. That was just a lesson to me that we should never be so reliant upon a person that our emotions swing one way versus the other, especially when it comes to the government. And especially if you are a Christian, your faith, your trust should be in God alone, Christ alone. And so when that happened. And it didn't happen the way that I wanted it to go, but I knew because that wasn't my, my prayer was that his will would be done. That was it. But that it would be decisively done. And it was. So, as you can see, this is a real raw interview because I don't really, I meant not interview, but podcasts, because I don't really talk about, I talk about my faith, but I don't talk about it as much, but I think it's very important for you to understand where I stand within this, because as leaders and as we are developing our careers, it is very important for us to have a stance. And understand our values and where we're coming from, but because then that gives us direction as to where we want to go in our careers, as to what we want to lean into, you have to be more decisive the higher that you go, because then there are things, there are people, there are ideas that can take us in one direction or another. But is that what's best for you? And you become more of, if you're wanting to make an impact, then that means you become more of an advocate of an idea, a subject, an area, and you become more of an expertise in that area. And so now you've got to understand what do I stand for, what do I not stand for? So, if you are a person of faith, you've got to even go deeper to say, how does this line up with what I believe the Bible says about what is going on in the world and how I should function in my profession and in the world. And so what impressed upon my heart. was that I had to ask for forgiveness, I Was looking for a person to fix it when the only person that can fix it is God and I was so disappointed But it's like wait a minute. when I know who's all powerful all wise all knowing all seeing can shift things in a direction in one moment Let me back up and see what is he trying to say. Where does he want this country to go? What do he, does he want us as a people to do? As a body of Christ to do? I literally said it's time to double down on Jesus. Again, this was before the inauguration. That was my stance. Still is my stance. And so I begin to watch, I begin to pray. it is very important for us to pray for our governmental leaders. The Bible means there's no words on that. No words on that. And so from that point I begin to pray, I begin to seek the Lord. And so now here we are. And things have happened that have been very disruptive. Laying people off, shutting things down. Like it's just very, it's a very unstable political environment. Which is what? We're finding that that's what they intended to do was just to get us to a point of overwhelm. So keep that in mind. And That is on video from their side. The intention is to overwhelm the system, to overwhelm the people, to where you just get things through. Cause you only got a short period of time. If they, if you listen to political strategists, you only got, but so much time and so much capital as we can see. political capital to where people start getting stale on what you're doing. Well, now those who were right down the middle who are very independent. Or moderately Republican and then further left as you can go, they're fed up. But I wanted the one thing that I wanted to say was, if you are a Christian, it is time for you to double down on Jesus. pray for our leaders, get an understanding of where we're going with this. But now I put my advocate hat on and I say, it's time for you. This is my number two. It is time for you to rise up. It time to step back and let's just see what our lawmakers are going to do If you feel some type of way about what is going on in the current environment, it is time for you to step up and send an email to your House of Representatives at the federal level and send an email to your Senator at the federal level. It is time for you to step up, make a call to your Senator at the federal level. It is time for you to speak out. Many of us have been silent. We've just kind of been sitting back and some of you probably didn't even vote. Let's just start right there It's always important to vote, but we're seeing that our lawmakers at the federal level They can't even get a handle on what's going on with the executive branch. But They're waiting for us to tell them what to do. I can guarantee you that. Because now you're starting to see movement to where there are certain things that they are pushing back on after many of us have picked up the phone, sent an email, whatever the case may be, and said, not going for it. This is why we say your vote has power. If you are a constituent, these people want your votes in order to stay in office. They want your votes. This is still a democracy. This is still your country. Whatever it is that you do not agree with. You need to step up, make a phone call, send an email. But what I'm telling you is that it's time to rise up. That's all I'm gonna say. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with another nurse who may be unsure of where to go next in their career, or maybe need some career clarity? Also, please leave a quick review for the show on Apple podcast. It brings me so much joy and so much encouragement to know this podcast is helping you. Now go get the career you want and not the one you settle for. And I'll meet you back here next Thursday for another episode. See you soon!