Tribute to Nurses

Special Essay (Online Only)

Sandy Summers & Harry Jacobs Summers

NURSING OUR BEER BACK TO HEALTH

Should we bury the word "nurse?"
 
In July 2007, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held a highly publicized "funeral" for the "n-word." The NAACP argued that the ceremony furthered its ongoing mission. But is language really that important in the resolution of social problems? And even if it is, can a society simply decide to change course about linguistic practices that are so deeply embedded in its culture?
 
Those who care about health should think about it. Discussion of the deadly nursing shortage rarely addresses the role language plays. But the terms we use have a real effect on how people think and act. This is true in every field in which public speech matters, including advertising, politics, journalism, and the arts, including poetry. But nursing is in the midst of an unprecedented global crisis, in significant part because it is undervalued. That undervaluation is bound up in the language that expresses it.

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