Public Relations by Edward L. Bernays

Author:Edward L. Bernays [Bernays, Edward L.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 2013-07-28T14:00:00+00:00

17

A Typical Survey Finding—America Looks at Nursing

IN public relations it is not only the individual organization or its product that needs to be integrated with society. Very often it is an entire group or profession.

If we accept the sociologists’ premise that our society is for the most part an aggregation of interest groups and group interests, we must also accept the conclusion that the mutual adjustment of these various groups is not always perfect. Some groups move ahead faster than others, and some lag behind. After a great cataclysm like a war, many groups discover that they are not so well integrated with society as they were before.

In World War II and afterward, this very thing happened in many cases. Individual professions found themselves left behind by other faster-moving elements of society. Such situations offer a field of action for the public relations expert. We have worked with a number of professions, attempting first to find out what the maladjustments between them and society were and then, after we found that out, making recommendations for adjustment. It may be interesting to examine one approach to this problem as a case method with practical implications for other professions.

In spite of the tremendous stride that nursing had made in the past three-quarters of a century, the profession still faced problems after World War II whose solution depended on public understanding and support. On the one hand, there was an acute shortage of nurses affecting the health and well-being of the American people; on the other hand, the profession needed things for itself that were in the public interest.

At its 1946 biennial convention, the American Nurses Association adopted a program calling for (1) economic security, (2) adequate legal control, and (3) proper distribution of nursing service. In urging better pay, better hours, and better working conditions for nurses, the ANA followed a course designed to alleviate the shortage of nurses. This shortage was not due to any defection on the part of the nurses. Actually, there were more professional, registered nurses (over 300,000) than ever before in America’s history. The demand for nursing care, however, had increased tremendously in recent years, far outstripping the supply. This deficiency could be made up only by improving the economic position of nurses, thereby attracting more people to the profession.

So, too, when the ANA called for adequate legal control, it was seeking to protect the public by having uniform state licensing laws for the profession. Although professional nurses of every state have to be registered, practical nurses without any training are allowed to practice in many states of the Union.

The third evil that the ANA wanted to correct was faulty distribution. Where there was one nurse for every 295 people living in cities, there was only one nurse for every 1,389 people in the rural areas.

To achieve its program of economic security, adequate legal control, and proper distribution of nursing service, the ANA needed the public’s support. But to obtain that support, it was necessary to inform

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