Feel the fear and use it to express yourself

Hey, listen up! Why don't some nurses want to write or present? I can hear some of you say: ‘I'm just a nurse, I have nothing to speak up about.’ ‘Time and tide wait for no man.’ Nursing, like the world in which we live, continues to evolve and, as nurses, we are witnesses to this on an increasingly frequent basis. We are privileged to be at the forefront of change, driving forward clinical care and professionalism. Hopefully, we contribute to creating a culture of clinical inquiry, disseminating information, ensuring quality improvement is evidence based and central to research initiatives.

Do we owe it to ourselves to record our stories of practice?

During my term as BAUN president, nothing will inspire me more than to encourage and see nurses develop the courage to write and present—to share experiences, ideas and expertise. It is my firm belief that, as nurses, we have a unique responsibility and ability to inform and inspire our peers. Let us be clear: it takes hard work, reflection, persuasion and constructive feedback from peers to move from a standpoint of firm reluctance to write or present to a position of feeling you have a responsibility to do so and a point at which it becomes easy!