In their paper ‘One vision, one voice: Transforming caregiving in nursing’, Zagger and Walker (2005) propose the use of a “clear” “vision statement” to guide and “empower” the future transformation of the nursing fraternity. It proposes the wide adoption of a common vision that is “widely shared by all specialties of nursing” in order to unify the profession into a single voice that can better tackle the present and future challenges of the healthcare system.
The authors assert the benefits of adopting a common vision, due to the potential benefits it can provide by causing an increase in motivation, retention, improving performance standards, improving visibility and image, and giving direction to nurses. In the article, the authors advocate the adoption of a vision through the use of examples and step-by-step demonstration of the usefulness of a “vision statements” in addressing some of the challenges being faced by nurses.
Zagger and Walker (2005) present the creation and adoption of a shared vision by “all nurses, regardless of their education, specialty, or practice focus” in the industry as the way to bring about positive changes in the deliverance of care to not only their patients but also “for themselves and their work environment” by ensuring “excellence in practice” which will enable the entire nurse community to function effectively at all levels and to competently take on present and future challenges in the healthcare system to ensure “improved outcomes”. The authors go on to describe how a vision can increase the morale of nurses, unify them and help them to improve their working environments and consequently their performance.
With the aid of logical arguments, the authors suggest a way to resolve several problems related to the domain of nursing, for instance, the issue of shortage of nurses in the healthcare industry. The authors assert that a solution to this problem is not by adopting the usual approach of recruiting more personnel but by increasing the retention of the existing nursing staff. This appears to be a logical approach considering that more than 18% of the national workforce of nurses has chosen not to work in the industry and that turnover is quite high. The authors also assert that the utility of a shared vision will help in improving the working environments of nurses since this is a critical factor in retention.
Likewise, the authors propose the usefulness of a vision in trying to unify the nursing profession into “one voice” which will facilitate a united front for the entire nursing community and which would be tremendously useful in helping all the nurses to face the challenges of their occupation. The use of a vision to increase performance and morale are also discussed. In the example of a vision cited by the authors, ‘excellent practice’ is discussed as being able to rally nurses to a call of trying to better their work by continually educating themselves.
In conclusion, it can be affirmed that the authors have presented clear facts to present their arguments eloquently regarding the necessity of a vision which has the power to positively transform the nursing profession. However, their approach in dealing with complex weighty issues facing the healthcare system is rather simplistic. As literature reveals, issues such as employee motivation are complex and are dependant on many interrelated factors.
As such, it appears uncertain that a vision can sufficiently address these all factors at play in motivation. It is also not plausible that worker retention issues can be solved entirely by simply improving the work environment, as suggested by the authors. Finally, the article by Zagger and Walker (2005) is not empirically grounded and is based entirely on theory, which is why its accuracy and reliability cannot be ascertained. The article is merely argumentative raising several doubts on the proposition they forward.