Endnote from the Editor: Bashyr Aziz
Published: 18 September 2009
This time BASHYR AZIZ's "Endnote" really is the end as he exits the stage as e-SOHN Editor. But not without some sage and salutary comments on where we go from here.
e-SOHN led the way at the RCN by being one of the first, if not the first, forum newsletter to go electronic. While this is the final issue of e-SOHN, something else will take its place, and the effectiveness of that something depends very much on the contribution that you, our readers, are prepared to make.
The RCN belongs to its members and, as Helen Kirk has points out in her letter, it has to operate effectively for the good of nursing as a whole. It is up to its members, like you, to ensure that, in this aim, the interests of specialist groups such as occupational health do not get swept aside.
Steady on
That occupational health nurses are resilient and resourceful is an indisputable fact: the influence you currently wield, despite being so small in numbers, is evident.
Whether we will continue to gain strength during the current economic (and employment) crisis depends upon our preparedness to adapt and innovate. Based on the history of occupational health nursing, I feel confident that we will pull through with added stature and professional self-confidence.
Don't lose touch
Having bowed out of RCN committees and, after this last one, the occupational health newsletter, I shall miss the collegiality and interprofessional collaboration that working with the RCN made possible. Through the OCC-HEALTH JISCmail list, and through the interaction that the developing RCN Public Health website promises, I hope that we will continue to keep in touch.
It is important that we pull together when the elections come up to ensure that occupational health nursing retains a commanding presence and influence in the RCN forum structure.
That just leaves me to say, with fondness and a hint of nostalgia, "Cheerio, and speak to you soon."