Your Career in Nursing, by Annette T. Vallano.
Your Career in Nursing by Annette T. Vallano, MS, RN, CS, presents a perspective on future trends in the nursing profession and a business approach to marketing oneself in the managed care environment. It is a nice resource for nurses entering or reentering the job market.
The book examines the characteristics that nurses will need in today's workplace. The challenges of nurses in providing high quality of care are discussed as they deal with technological advances. The author addresses the reality of nursing in a cost-effective health care system. Nurses must consider costs in conjunction with good care. Also, communication for nursing is becoming technologically geared toward enhancing care path documentation. Vallano emphasizes the importance for nurses to stay current in practice through appropriate credentialing and professional maintenance.
This book gives the reader an exciting look at the opportunities in the nursing profession. The trends of attracting new nurses into the workforce is described. The chance to develop an autonomous role is challenged with current economic concerns, demanding work environments, and minimal rewards. Vallone forsees the chance for older nurses to continue working in the overwhelming options in the health industry. She emphasizes that the health care industry will be forced to reinvent new workplace models that provide job flexibility. This new workplace will maintain the quality of nursing that will be lost unless a more attractive work environment is created. The influence of males entering the nurse profession is addressed. The reader is made aware of the issues that male nurses face in a female-dominated profession. Vallone stresses that male nurse recruitment is important to provide a balance in the nursing profession.
Vallone's book, then, addresses how nurses need to market themselves in their career development. She describes the business plans of product development, researching, networking, and advertising oneself in the managed care organization. It is imperative that the nurse determines strategies for effective negotiation in the workplace. No longer can the nurses rely on the employer to care for them. The nurses must decide how they will present their best assets in a competitive market place. It is time for nurses to be entrepreneurs or ontrapreneurs in creating the job environment that will develop their career goals as well as contribute to the organization.
In summary, Vallone's book is an excellent resource for nurses acquainting them to the work world of the nursing profession. It provides the reader with a new approach to designing the nursing professional in the business of the health care system.