Mission Possible

Julia Plotnick believes the role of the nurse should be the same worldwide. Yet poverty, war, famine, and natural disasters mean that many countries do not have schools to provide even basic nursing education. "In developing countries, there are so few material goods, supplies, books, and learning laboratories where students can practice their skills," Plotnick explains. "Most [nurses] have learned their skills by doing." That's where Plotnick steps in. She is on a mission to inspire and educate nurses around the world.

A highly decorated nurse with an international reputation, Julia Plotnick's career has spanned more than four decades, 19 countries, and five continents. Throughout her distinguished career in the United States, she has undertaken short-term international assignments to assess healthcare delivery systems and to design training programs.

And Plotnick has taken part in some monumental assignments: rebuilding Rwanda's public health system in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide; improving health services for mothers and children on 26 separate visits to post-Ceausescu Romania; and training public health nurses in Kobe, Japan, following the devastating 1995 earthquake.

Back home in the US, Plotnick has held positions in the highest echelon of government service and won numerous awards for her work to promote the nursing profession. As the Chief Nurse Officer for the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) between 1992 and 1996, Plotnick provided leadership to more than 5,000 civil service and Commissioned Corps Nurses. She also coordinated and directed national policy for nursing activities with the Surgeon General of the United States. In recognition of her career achievements, the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps awarded Plotnick the Distinguished Service Medal, their highest honour.

Getting Results

Of her many international assignments, Plotnick's most personally rewarding was in Rwanda. She recalls meeting the new Rwandan minister of health: "'Now what?' he said to me. We had to decide where to begin. We had to build up a country. There were only eight properly trained doctors and 32 nurses left after the genocide."

In February 1995, Plotnick returned to Rwanda to start a population-based healthcare system that focused on three main sources of morbidity – diarrhoea, respiratory infection, and malaria. In one year, a program designed by Plotnick and her Rwandan staff trained 500 community health workers to minister to an ailing and traumatised nation. On a separate trip to Ruhengeri, Rwanda in September 1995, she received a hero's welcome for her work in establishing five branches of a national nursing association.

"They had taken bed sheets and put my name on them. They called me the saviour of nursing in Rwanda," she says. "It was a very humbling experience." Soon after this visit, a three-year nursing education program was re-established at schools across the country, thanks in no small part to Plotnick's work.

In 2001, Plotnick's efforts as the Director of Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) nursing education program in Kampala, Uganda, resulted in dramatic improvements in the neonatal intensive care unit at Mulago Hospital. Infant mortality rates have since declined and nursing care for infants now includes such basic but critical tasks as physical assessments, taking temperatures, and measuring head circumferences and lengths. On a national level, HVO nurses have been instrumental in implementing policy changes on the intramuscular injections given to newborns. Like Plotnick, HVO's nursing volunteers are motivated by a desire to help. "Many times in the past, I have seen man's inhumanity to man, first hand," says Plotnick. "In the time that I have worked for HVO, my faith in the generosity and willingness of healthcare professionals to help others ... has been restored."

Plotnick's lastest assignment is in Amman, Jordan. She has accepted a short-term consultancy with the World Health Organization to assist in planning for the rehabilitation of health services in Iraq. Naturally, this role includes nursing education and practice and encouraging the establishment of an important role for community health nurses.

The Person Behind the Mission

"Nursing is a calling. Without that, you just can't do it," explains Plotnick, "It has to be your lifework, and you have to care." It's clear that Plotnick is dedicated, and her passion for nursing is infectious. "She is such a treasure," fellow nurse and Rutgers University colleague Dr. Marie O'Toole explains. "Just the mention of her name opens doors all over the world – everyone from the minister of health level to staff on patient care units is thrilled to meet with one of the kindest and most efficient professionals you could ever encounter."

Admiral Mary Pat Couig, the current chief nurse officer of the US Public Health Service adds: "What I have always appreciated about Julia is her approach to problems. She's able to look at a situation and come up with very practical and realistic solutions. She's such a warm personality and is so interested in people and their issues and concerns. That's why she is so successful."

Although now officially retired, Plotnick continues to promote the nursing profession around the world. In addition to being a visiting professor at Rutgers University College of Nursing, Plotnick volunteers for several international organisations, which includes recruiting nurse educators for the HVO training program in Uganda.

According to Plotnick, she has no choice but to do what she's doing, "Everyone has something to give and most of us don't even realise our potential. If you have the ability to make an impact, you have to give back or the opportunity is lost forever."

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