Nurse Empowerment: Where You Can Start

Nurse Empowerment: Where You Can Start

September 11, 2022

It’s no secret that healthcare (like every other field) faces its own unique challenges.

RaDonda Vaught – the former nurse whose conviction for a medical error shook the healthcare community – faced a situation no nurse wants to be in. Her case also fueled worries that the outcome would set a troubling precedent of criminalizing unintentional medical errors.

But since then, Vaught has fought hard to change the narrative by helping to empower nurses.

During the General Session, “Championing Against the Criminalization of Medical Mistakes,” at OR Excellence 2022, Vaught plans to share some insights about what nurses can do at their own facilities to both advocate for patient safety and set a standard for a safer practice environment.

She says some action steps every nurse can take right away include:

1. Becoming more involved in your career and coming together as a nursing community. “AORN is a great example of that. Nurses can stay up on the best practices in their field and pay attention to what is going on in their own facilities.”
2. Be a leader in your own way and a voice for change. “We must be communicating with our administrators. If we don’t provide hospitals with our feedback about the areas that need to be improved, it won’t get better.”

Speaking up isn’t easy, Vaught says, but she offered a tip on how and when to do it.

“You can use your voice and encourage the people around you to do the same,” she says.

“It’s scary to stand up to an institution, but it’s ok to ask questions and voice your concerns. The more people that do that, the more the administration will listen and make some changes.”

You can hear more at OR Excellence, where Vaught will share her story with Outpatient Surgery Magazine’s Editorial Director/Editor-in-Chief Dan Cook. He will hold a wide-ranging conversation with her about what she is doing to turn the challenges and heartbreak she experienced into positive change.

“Our healthcare system has its challenges, and the only way we are going to fix it is from the inside out. Nurses are educated, and they hold a vast number of positions in our facilities. There is no reason that the largest number of healthcare professionals cannot be an advocate to improve our systems,” she says.