Picture a nurse, and people will often envision a woman in a white uniform, standing beside a doctor and checking the temperature of a patient or fluffing up a pillow.
But that image does not represent what nursing is today, argue the 21 members of an advanced practice nursing class at George Mason University in Fairfax. To prove their point, they have created a children's book celebrating the diversity found within the nursing profession.
The book's purpose is "to tell kids about all the cool stuff that we do," said Alexandria resident Melissa Hoffman, one of the nurses who authored the book.
The authors, all graduate students in George Mason's nursing program, penned "Do You Know a Nurse?" in order to dispel some of the popular images surrounding the nursing field. Inside the children's book are illustrations and descriptions of male and female nurses of every race working around the world in different types of situations, from the emergency room to the military, from a rural clinic to Capitol Hill as a lobbyist or legal consultant.
WITHIN THE nursing program at George Mason are researchers, teachers and nurses who work in emergency rooms, intensive care units and in public health. They hail from Virginia to Sierra Leone to Saudi Arabia.
"We really tried to show the different career opportunities available to nursing today," said Stephanie Armstrong of Potomac Falls.
The students, all of them in an Advanced Nursing Practices class, came up with the idea for a children's book in February. They needed a class project and decided that a children's book would help sustain the nursing profession by introducing children to the field.
Each of the 21 students wrote a sentence answering a question on what nurses are and what they do, with each sentence comprising a page of the book. Each nurse also suggested what illustrations could accompany his or her sentence.
An editing team turned the sentences into rhymes and made sure everything flowed. Meanwhile, a fund-raising team worked with area hospitals on find funding to defray printing costs.
The students had less than four weeks to write the book and get the illustrations finished. The first book came out on April 23, and copies are now available at the Borders bookstore in Fairfax City and the student bookstore at George Mason University.
"It was a good experience for me, I learned a lot about publishing," said Vienna resident Cecile Davis, who headed the fund-raising team. She added that she thought nurses were "pretty well respected" in the area.
Now that the book is out, the students, all of whom are graduating from George Mason this May, hope the public will buy the book, not only because it provides a modern-day twist to nursing, but because all the proceeds will go towards the College of Nursing and Health Sciences Fund for educational opportunities for nursing students.
"It will help children realize the excitement of a nursing career," said Jeanne Sorrell, Acting Dean for Nursing at George Mason.
At a recent book signing at the Fairfax City Borders, Walter Shipe of Remington, husband of nursing student and author Sandra, said their family plans to donate a book to their 6-year-old's school.
"I don't think nurses get enough credit for what they do and what responsibilities they have," said Shipe, who added that his wife has been a nurse for 19 years. "They have to be a counselor, a shoulder to cry on, and they have to be a doctor when the doctor is not around."
Nursing Gets New, Fun Twist