Nancy Langston

Cassandra's Legacy and the Core Values of Nursing

Abstract In May, we will once again celebrate nursing and nurses. Our annual Nurses Week celebration coincides with the birth month of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern secular nursing. I believe that during this period of rapid change, it is particularly important that we remain centered on, make visible, and celebrate the core values of nursing. Florence Nightingale provided us with a framework, relevant today, for speaking explicitly about our values and the essential features of nursing. Florence Nightingale provided us with a framework, relevant today, for speaking explicitly about our values and the essential features of nursing.

It Is Indeed a Small World After All

Abstract For aging baby boomers, “Its a Small World After All” has become far more meaningful in recent years than when we were children. The words of this popular, catchy tune have become a reality in our lives as we progress through the information age and todays technological revolution. The quantum leaps of the last quarter century in travel and telecommunications have demolished barriers across time and space.

Start Spreading the News

Abstract “Start spreading the news,…I want to be a part of it…” These words from Frank Sinatras famous song about NLNs hometown — New York, New York — evoke the feelings that emerged from the NLNs Education Summit 2000, held in Nashville in September. This meeting must be represented as nothing short of a “happening” for nursing — a happening that made public and sanctioned our needs as educators: to share new information about curriculum and instruction, to network regarding our lives as educators, to continue our skills development, and to disseminate information about what we have learned as researchers, clinicians, and administrators.

The Collective Intellect of Nurses: Three Approaches to the Cyclic Shortage Conundrum

Abstract Nursing is once again in the midst of one of its cyclic shortages, with forecasts of an even more intense shortage developing by 2010. At the American Nurses Association Convention in June, I represented NLN in a panel discussion on how national nursing organizations perceive this national issue and how they plan to help resolve it. For purposes of the presentation, I identified three primary ways for NLN to contribute to both short-term and long-term solutions to the nursing shortage problem: Maintaining a comprehensive database regarding the new supply of nurses. Contributing to the substantive work of preparation of practitioners for an ever-changing health care environment. Providing faculty development activities to assist in enhancing the applicant pool to schools of nursing.

Honoring Our Heritage / Revealing Our Expectations

Abstract Its in the name! Founders of organizations, as well as parents, give significant thought and emotional energy to selecting the “right” names for their offspring. Names honor familial icons, create associations with current celebrities and cultures, or reveal expectations and aspirations. So it is with the formal name of NLN. The name of our organization, National League for Nursing, honors our heritage and reveals our expectations.