In recent years, nurses have been asked to do more and more, leading to widespread burnout in the profession.
Ashlie Cramer, MSN, BSN, clinical administrator of Lakewood Ranch Surgical Suites in North Sarasota, Fla., told "Becker's ASC Review Podcast" that nurses today are also more outspoken when it comes to certain issues.
Note: This is an edited excerpt. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Question: How has ASC nursing changed over the last 10 or 15 years?
Ashlie Cramer: I can definitely see a culture shift in nursing in general and in the operating room. There's a major shift going on. We have a lot of different viewpoints coming to play that maybe are different from how we were all taught nursing.
I think nurses are burned out and tired. The clinical care and the clinical burden all bedside nurses have faced during this whole pandemic, it's brought a lot of issues to light. Bedside nurses are speaking up now and they're calling bad leaders out. In the past, people wouldn't have done that. I think they would have formed their groups within their work staff. So a lot of those issues have sparked these movements.
What's going to happen with the COVID mandates? I feel that effective leaders need to be aware of those things so they can converse with their employees about that. If they are asked, 'Well, what's your stance on the COVID vaccine?' or, 'What's your stance on this?' it's important to be able to answer those questions.