I can’t get this scene out of my head. A room filled with nurses in the Oval Office, not social distancing, not wearing masks, most wearing scrubs, and bowing to a President who bullied them into submission when one dared to mention PPE.
COVID19 has highlighted how nursing leaders and organizations continue to remain silent on issues they deem political. This is our downfall, this our weakness, and it puts us squarely in the middle of a pandemic ravaging our workforce because leaders won’t challenge the highest levels of government.
Nurses who do speak out are punished, silenced, shamed into obscurity, lose their jobs, or get reassigned. Do we have a gap in nursing courage to speak truth to power, especially to an administration that is vindictive? We need to end our silence, even if it hurts.
