Each biennium, Sigma installs a new president at the international level. At the 46th Biennial Convention, we proudly installed Ken Dion, PhD, MSN/MBA, RN, FAAN, and introduced him as the 34th president of Sigma. Each president presents a call to action to help guide members and chapters as we strive to fulfill our mission. Going forward, this will be an organizational call to action with influence from the Board of Directors.
The organizational call to action asks us to be bold. As a profession we have a habit of talking among ourselves. We attend nursing conferences, we publish in nursing journals, and we often remain in siloes within the organizations where we are employed. This status quo cannot remain! If nothing else, the past two years have shown us how events outside of nursing force change within it. Case in point: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed global inequities in our societies, our healthcare delivery systems, and within the nursing profession. Consider COVID-19 a wake-up call. The future is coming, and it will profoundly affect nursing education, research, healthcare systems, and—ultimately—models of care.
Our profession must step outside its insular circle. We must actively collaborate with disciplines outside nursing and healthcare to influence decisions about our profession, populations, and the planet in three critical domains: economics, technology, and conservation. As we move forward in a post-pandemic world, it remains our duty as a profession to advocate to abolish inequities within societies, healthcare systems, and even within our profession. Advocacy has always been central to nursing. But how do we focus our advocacy for the future? Taking stock of our past, the present, and potential futures can help us determine how to do that.