When she was 6, Jacquelyn Long went to her pediatrician for an annual physical expecting a lollipop and a clean bill of health. Instead, she was diagnosed with a Wilms' tumor and was immediately sent to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. She was operated on the next day.

Today, what Long remembers most about the experience were the nurses. They talked to her, walked in the halls with her, rocked her to sleep at night and taught her what she missed in school. "They made a bad experience seem like it wasn't so bad and I could deal with it," she said.

She knew for certain that when she grew up she would become a nurse, she said. She didn't understand what a diagnosis of cancer meant, but nurses and doctors were poking her with needles and she could not figure out what bad thing she had done to deserve to be treated that way. "The nurses explained that it wasn't something I did and they weren't trying to punish me," Long said. "They wanted me to go home, too, and they were trying to help me get there.

"I can empathize and sympathize with sick children."

Long did become a nurse and is now one of 69 nurses whose stories are featured in Johnson & Johnson's Discover Nursing campaign and on its Web site at www.discovernursing.com.

Despite her illness, Long was never behind in school. She was valedictorian of her elementary school, junior high and high school. Long credits these accomplishments to the nurses who helped her to keep up with her schoolwork.

Her desire to become a nurse never wavered and she was determined to pursue a career in pediatrics.

She attended Wayne State University, where she received her BSN, then went on to complete her MSN and become a pediatric nurse practitioner. Long now works in a mobile clinic at Children's Hospital of Michigan and is working on her Ph.D. in nursing.

Meanwhile, the American Hospital Association reports 126,000 vacant full-time RN positions throughout the country.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by the year 2020, this number will swell to a national shortage of 400,000 RNs. A recent poll by Vanderbilt University School of Nursing reports that 81 percent of Americans recognize there is a nursing shortage and 65 percent see this shortage as a major problem or crisis.

Ways to help
 

When Johnson & Johnson's vice chairman, James Lenehan, heard about the nursing shortage and its statistics, he decided to look for ways that his company could help. To address the shortage, Johnson & Johnson launched Discover Nursing, a campaign to attract more people to the field.

The campaign has no scheduled endpoint and is expected to spend more than $20 million during the next two years. Johnson & Johnson would like to see its campaign increase recruitment and enhance the image of nursing. In the future, Discover Nursing will expand to address nurse retention.

Johnson & Johnson is using several approaches to reach the public through its campaign.

Its Web site conveys the benefits of a career in nursing and provides links to nursing schools and scholarship programs, and profiles 69 nurses in a variety of nursing careers. Since its launch Feb. 6, the site has had more than 70,000 visitors.

The campaign also includes a scholarship fund for undergraduate students and nursing faculty. In addition, Johnson & Johnson sponsors regional events to celebrate nursing and to raise money for additional scholarships.

The company has already announced the first 17 scholarships awarded by the program.

More than 50,000 brochures, posters and videos have been mailed to high schools, nursing schools, hospitals and nursing organizations. The company is preparing a second mailing of recruitment materials.

The media campaign, which features nurses and celebrates their contributions to the profession, was launched on television during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

"We've heard from thousands of people about the commercials. The responses have been tremendously warm and rewarding. Many individual nurses and even a graduating class of nurses have sent thank-you notes," company spokesman John McKeegan said.

"Who would want to put my face on television?" Michael Pontacolone, RN, asked when he was approached to interview for a part in the campaign.

Pontacolone did apply and was chosen to appear in a commercial and recruitment video.

In the spotlight
 

Pontacolone spent seven hours in front of a camera talking without a script about why he became a nurse and what keeps him in nursing.

"It was flattering to be chosen, but it was an enormous amount of work," Pontacolone said.

Pontacolone said he feels as though he has a taste of what it is like to be a celebrity. He was surprised by the "unbelievable recognition" he received.

"It was a heady experience having the spotlight on me and being recognized for the hard work I do," he said.

Hundreds of strangers came up to him, saying they saw him on television and congratulated him. "People were excited for me. They were happy that nurses as a whole were getting a pat on the back," Pontacolone said.

From concept to launch, the campaign took about a year to create. Numerous nurses with a variety of backgrounds served on the campaign's advisory board.

Cynthia Capers, Ph.D., RN, dean at the University of Akron College of Nursing in Ohio, was asked to assist Johnson & Johnson as the company developed video production and to make suggestions on the most effective ways to raise public awareness of the nursing shortage.

"The profession should use this 'gift' as a tool or launching point to further advance our goals and to educate the public in terms of the numerous opportunities in the profession," Capers said.

She would like to see the campaign increase public awareness, improve the perception of nursing and boost efforts to retain nurses.

Another nurse who served on the campaign's planning committee was Geraldine Bednash, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, executive director of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

As a campaign adviser, part of her responsibilities include connecting planners with other stakeholders within nursing and serving as an advocate for the campaign.

Bednash, too, is impressed with Johnson & Johnson's corporate responsibility and willingness to step forward and address the nursing shortage.

"I hope this campaign serves as a call to action for other corporate citizens. As the new nursing shortage unfolds, the profession needs a real shot in the arm," she said.

Contact Carol Lindsay at carol@lindsay.net.

Original soure at http://www.nurseweek.com/news/features/02-07/campaign.asp