ABSTRACT
Nursing is as old as human life itself; however, the shortage of nurses is not a recent phenomenon, nor one restricted to a specific geographical location. The actual public image of nursing is diverse and incongruous. The nursing image has changed from the handmaiden’s role to the current “advanced nurse practitioner”. The profession has long suffered from public stereotyping and being closely associated with femininity and powerlessness. On the one hand, nurses’ unique role in the healthcare delivery system often puts them in what seems to be a NO-WIN position. On the other hand, this pandemic has taught the world about the worth of nurses and how the healthcare system can either be crashed or rebooted if we still don’t pay heed to lifting and redefining the image of nurses in this century.
It is time people realise the worth of nursing professionals in our country and work to fix these issues. Else there won’t be any takers for this profession. While healthcare professionals bring the healthcare system from survival to revival mode, the government expects to learn their lessons from the ramifications of this crisis and bolster its efforts to turn a crippling healthcare system into a resilient one.
