She will be drawn to those who will reinforce the idea. Practitioner Pauline Robitaille's stresses impact each nurse has on others. Her influence on people she comes in contact at the peri-operative setting cannot be overstated. She found the published feedbacks of registered nurses in nursing journals as very positive while others were very negative. Those who gave positive feedbacks described the efforts of preceptors to teach and support them. Thus the intended learning flowed smoothly. However, other nurses reported the negative, punitive and critical behavior of their preceptors. The nurses described the difficulty of working with these preceptors. Hence, the nurses did not benefit from their experience with the preceptors. Ulmer emphasizes that those in the profession must exert all efforts to picture practitioners, the practice and the specialty in the most positive manner if they must attract young minds to it. They must take time to help these probable entries to learn and to make their learning experience enjoyable and meaningful. Those who are fortunate enough to come under cooperative preceptors should share the experience with their colleagues. The shortage of peri-operative nurses should prompt everyone in the profession, especially in the peri-operative setting, to contribute to the learning of everyone. At the same time, they must continue to serve as positive role models.

Their positive attitude and positive role modeling should result in a positive portrayal in the eyes of the media. Practitioners would like to send the message to people that their generally positive view and regard of them are founded, accurate and deserved. The public needs and wants to know nurses' role, specifically to peri-operative nursing and positive patient outcomes. They must project an image, which will contradict and replace what is currently fed by the media and accepted by viewers about nurses. They want to prove to the public that nurses are not missing in action. With nurses as increasingly integral part of the health care delivery framework, they should be represented in the media "not as accessories to a story but as the story."

Ulmer hammers the point home...

A positive portrayal of nurses in the media can and will strengthen their connection with the public they serve. Even those considered little things can be vital matters to the public and to the media, such as errors in instrument and tools counts. The point is that nothing is too little or minor to ignore or dismiss. Professional ethics is everything to nurses and the media is an essential tool to project that value.
Recommendations

In forging a positive media image, the nursing profession make should its involvement in patient care and consumer health issues public (Ulmer 2000). This thrust will counteract and dilute the perception that the media publishes nurses' stories only when they are threatening to stage a strike against poor working conditions, for example. The media needs to see and be convinced that the nursing profession has changed and has become a solid part of today's patient care by possessing critical nursing skills. They must display updated knowledge of medical and technical innovation. They must prove that the nursing profession of the future will be better or more responsive to changes.

Those within and without the professional field should reach a collective position and agenda, which will etch the best possible public image for nursing. As health care providers who stand with and by the patients for their care on a daily basis, they should have this single-minded objective in all they do (Ulmer).

Bibliography

Gonzales, L. (2005). A mission for the center for nursing advocacy. 3 pages. Nevada RN Foundation: Nevada Nurses Association

Nursing BC (2002). How to create community media coverage for nursing. 2 pages. Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia: ProQuest Information and Learning Company

Ulmer, B.C. (2000). The image of nursing. 4 pages. AORN Journal: Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc.

Willging, P (2005). it's time to take the politics out of nursing home quality. 5 pages. Nursing Homes: Medquest Communications, LLC