Looking Forward to a Great New Year!

It’s 2010! Hooray!  It’s not a hardship to wish 2009 farewell — it was  a rough year for many of us and we’re ready for something better!

As is our wont at this time of year, we’ve indulged in a little trendspotting and future forecasting, trying to see what might be around the corner for nursing.  Some trends are easy to spot: our aging population means we’re going to see more and more need for geriatric care.  Chronic conditions will be taking center stage.  Nurses are still being asked to do more with less…and health care reform efforts will probably (and we’re going way out on a limb here prediction wise!) take at least a little bit of time to manifest. Waistlines are still increasing…or is that just mine?

Either way, there’s a lot about these trends that we don’t like.  The future holds challenges for nurses, individually and as a profession.  It’ll come as no surprise to you that we think that humor is going to be more important than ever before.  Laughter and the ability to see funny will be more than something we do for fun; they’re critical nursing skills that will sustain not only us but our patients.  A low cost, always available resource, humor will be there — and we here at JNJ are devoted to helping you make the most of it!