Welcoming a New Decade and Reflecting on the “2000s”: Considerations for the Discipline of Nursing

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TRANSITIONS SEEM TO occur all the time, and time has a way of moving along even as we blink! We are now embarking not only on a new year, but a new decade. In the past 10 years we have witnessed many profound events, several of which I have chosen to highlight here. I have written often about the importance of placing nursing within a social context, and as we begin our journey into a new decade, I thought it appropriate to take stock of our society and the impact of societal changes on our profession.

It seems like yesterday that we were focused on Y2K, also known as the “millennium bug,” a computer problem that was anticipated to be calamitous. Y2K did not result in the disastrous effects we feared; instead, we entered the decade of the 2000s seemingly intact. Not until September 11, 2001, did we experience a monumental national/international crisis that had significant and lasting effects on our society. Some people will remember this past decade as dominated by 9-11 and its aftermath, and nurses and other health care providers were certainly on the frontlines.

In a historically close election in November 2000, George W. Bush was elected President of the United States. The decade of the 2000s was predominantly experienced under the Bush administration until January 2009, when Barack Obama, the nation's first African American president, was inaugurated. This was after a presidential primary season that involved a serious run by a female candidate, Hillary Clinton. We indeed were breaking down gender and racial barriers. Also the political front, the United States became engaged in a war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Issues related to the economy, global warming, health care, and international diplomacy abounded. We experienced a near collapse of the economy, increasing temperature of the earth due to an increase in carbon in the atmosphere, a crisis in health care reflected in health disparities and unequal access to healthcare, and terrorist attacks in various parts of the world, including the United States. All of these events have direct and indirect effects on our health as well as on our profession. The importance for nursing to be involved and proactive in health policy was increasingly evident. We continue to be challenged with maintaining and strengthening human rights across the globe and in the United States.

Natural disasters occurred around the world, including a tsunami in the Indian Ocean near the Indonesian Island of Sumatra in 2004, killing 283,000 people (11 Facts About the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami). In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the United States Gulf Coast, causing the deaths of almost 1,836 people and displacing approximately one million people, many of whom were destitute prior to the hurricane (11 Facts about Hurricane Katrina). Emergency preparedness and disaster nursing received more and more attention and focus.

The world of technology continued to expand exponentially. In 2001 the iPod, a portable digital music player was introduced, allowing people to download music digitally and listen to it easily while walking or exercising on machines or flying on airplanes. The iPod was followed by the iPhone and other brand names. Wikipedia (2000s Decade) notes that some have referred to the decade of the 2000s as “the iDecade” or in some cases as the “You Decade,” reflecting the introduction and rise of “personal media” such as YouTube and, more recently, FaceBook and MySpace. Exploring the health effects of the “social and personal media movement” as well as the implications for nursing practice continues to contain much uncharted territory. Other advances in technology were evidenced in robotics, being used in space exploration, military operations, deep-sea explorations, and health care procedures. High-definition television and increasing access to and popularity of video games also contributed to important trends in the 2000s. With the important advances in technology, we in nursing continue to embrace these benefits while also experiencing the challenges of maintaining our emphasis on human caring and “high-touch” within a “high-tech” environment.

In nursing, we experienced challenges, such as decreased National Institutes of Health funding, a nursing shortage, and a nursing faculty shortage. We also experienced changes and growth, including the introduction of a new degree, the doctor of nursing practice, and a new role, the clinical nurse leader. We remained a strong voice on Capitol Hill, with continuing coordination of efforts to influence health care legislation and support of nursing practice, education, and research. We are on the brink of some version of health care reform as the legislative process continues (as of the writing of this editorial, negotiations and compromises were still being sought in the impending health care reform bill). As socioeconomic–political times continue to change, we in nursing are challenged to analyze and redefine our approaches to addressing the health care needs of society. However, our challenge is not only to respond to these changing health care needs; our challenge is to proactively be involved in shaping our rapidly changing society. As the reformer and activist nurse Dorothea Dix stated in the 1800s, “In a world where there is so much to be done, I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do” (Dorothea Dix quotes by Joan Johnson Lewis).

So welcome to a new decade. I'm sure there is something for all of us to do!