Become a Member of the Coalition for Better Understanding of Nursing Today!

| More

The Coalition for Better Understanding of Nursing

Few know what nurses really do to save lives and improve patient outcomes. Decades of damaging stereotypes propagated by the media have shaped the way the public and, even many nurses, think -- that nursing is any one of the common stereotypes: unskilled loser, handmaiden, battleaxe, golddigger, angel or naughty nurse.

The naughty nurse is so pervasive that in March 2010, the Dutch Nurses Union felt compelled to launch a public relations campaign informing the public that nurses do not perform sexual services. This campaign came about after a patient tried to fire his nurse because she refused to satisfy him sexually. Nurses in many Asian countries report difficulty in finding a suitable mate because their social status is on par with that of a prostitute.

Stereotypes affect the way people think, which in turn affects their actions related to nursing The undervaluation of nursing leads to understaffed clinical setting, nurses being replaced by non-nurses, nursing education, research and residencies grossly underfunded. We need your help to change the way society thinks about nursing.

The Truth About Nursing is an international non-profit working to help nurses meet that challenge. We tell the media and the public what nurses really do. We analyze the media's treatment of nurses and organize them to respond, helping nurses stand together to end harmful depictions and encourage good ones. Better public understanding of nursing will lead to more social, political and financial support for the profession. That will relieve the nursing shortage and improve the health of all.

And the damage caused by the stereotypes goes much deeper when we consider the far more damagin unskilled and the handmaiden stereotypes.

The golddigger stereotype suggests more than just that nurses are looking for "Dr. RIght" so they can strike it wealthy, worse yet it implies that nurses have no committment to nursing or professional respect.

The naughty nurse suggests that nurses' jobs include the duty to perform sexual services.

The handmaiden exists to serve physicians and their needs, wrongly suggesting that nurses have no independent legal or ethical obligation to the patient.

The unskilled stereotype came about because nursing work has long been performed by physicians on television.

Registered Nurses are the critical front-line caregivers in health care today. For millions of people worldwide, nurses are the difference between life and death, self-sufficiency and dependency, hope and despair. Yet a lack of true appreciation for nursing has contributed to a shortage that is one of our most urgent public health crises. The nursing shortage has claimed countless lives and threatens to overwhelm the world's health systems. It is no exaggeration to say that our future depends on a better understanding of nursing.

The Truth About Nursing is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The IRS considers contributions to be charitable, and they are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Annual dues are a sliding scale based on the organization's size and type. We have two dues schedules. Please choose the schedule that best fits the needs of your organization.

Schedule Option 1

	Journals	$0.10 per subscriber
	Organizations and Unions	$0.50 per member
	Schools	$1 per student
	Hospitals and clinical providers	$5 per nursing employee
Enter Dues Amount: $

Member benefits

Become a member by filling in the form below or click here to join by mail.

The Truth About Nursing is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The IRS considers contributions to be charitable, and they are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Dues are a sliding scale based on the organization's operating income for your current year. The dues schedule is listed below.

Become a member by filling in the form below or click here to join by mail.

Schedule Option 2

Dues	Budget size
$99 (US)	$0 - $24,999
$125 (US)	$25,000 - $99,999
$175 (US)	$100,000 - $199,999
$300 (US)	$200,000 - $399,999
$400 (US)	$400,000 - $599,999
$600 (US)	$600,000 - $999,999
$850 (US)	$1 million - $2 million
$1,000 (US)	$2 million - $3 million
$1,250 (US)	$3 million - $5 million
$1,500 (US)	$5 million - $7 million
$1,850 (US)	$7 million - $10 million
$2,050 (US)	$10 million - $12 million
$2,500 (US)	$12 million - $15 million
$3,000 (US)	$15 million - $20 million
$3,500 (US)	$20 million - $25 million
$4,000 (US)	$25 million - $30 million
$5,000 (US)	$30 million - $40 million
$6,000 (US)	$40 million - $50 million
$7,500 (US)	$50 million - $75 million
$10,000 (US)	$75 million and above

For any questions, please contact us at info@truthaboutnursing.org or 410-323-1100. Please enter your contact info below as it appears on your credit card. If you go by a different name, please let us know!

First name:*

Last name:*

Address:*

Address 2:

City:*

State/province:*

State/province not required outside North America.

Zip/postal Code:*

Country:*

Email:*

Credentials:

Gender:*

Female Male

Are you a nurse?*

Yes No

Highest degree earned in nursing:*

N/A

LPN/LVN

Diploma

BS/BSN

MS/MSN

Doctoral

May we post your name and credentials on our member supporters page?*

Yes No

I would like to receive news alerts by e-mail (Click here to see our past news alerts)

***To ensure that your spam filter lets our news alerts through, please add news_alerts@truthaboutnursing.org and ssummers@truthaboutnursing.org to your address book now.

Please select the Submit button only once. We have three more pages to confirm your order--please be patient with our system.

You will be transferred to Paypal/VeriSign's secure server where you can enter your credit card number, which will be processed with Secure Sockets Layer encryption--the industry-standard method for protecting web communications.

In our imperfect state of conscience and enlightenment, publicity and the collision resulting from publicity are the best guardians of the interest of the sick.

-- Florence Nightingale

If you would like to make a gift subscription or a gift in honor or in memory of someone, please email us at info@truthaboutnursing.org with the name and address of the person on whose behalf you are donating and the name and address of the person(s) we should notify of your gift.

If you would like to make a gift of securities, trusts, life insurance or estates, please contact us at info@truthaboutnursing.org so that we can assist you. Thank you.

Also see our Organizational members and donors page

To make a donation by snail mail:

Member donations by check or money order may be sent along with a completed copy of our pdf member form or our Saving Lives pdf form to:

Membership
The Truth About Nursing
203 Churchwardens Rd.
Baltimore, Maryland (MD) 21212-2937 USA

Our phone is +1-410-323-1100

The Truth About Nursing is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The IRS considers contributions to be charitable, and they are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

EIN: Our employer identification number is 26-3944281

A copy of the current financial statement of The Truth About Nursing is available here, or by writing to 203 Churchwardens Rd. Baltimore, MD 21212-2937 USA, or by calling (410) 323-1100. Documents and information submitted under the Maryland Solicitations Act are also available, for the cost of postage and copies, from the Maryland Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis MD 21401, (410) 974-5534.