Editorial

It may be cute, but what does it say about nursing? Creeping cuteness. I wish to go on record as opposed to cuteness. Now I realize I am on dangerous ground, because one man's cute- ness-or in this case woman's-is another's humor. I warn you now, this editorial is subjec- tive.

The dictionary defines cute as pleasingly pretty or dainty; then gets nastier, labeling it affectedly clever. The cuteness I decry is that which is corny, flippant, gimmicky-the affect- edly clever hybrid variety. The tacky kind. It is the kind of cuteness I sometimes see in nurs- ing that is demeaning to nurses and saps their professionalism.

Cuteness may be a feminine characteristic stemming from women's insecurity. We lack confidence about our intellectual effort, so we hide it with a joke or a witticism. Then no one will make the mistake of taking us seriously. (We weren't really serious.) We package in- formation in sugar-coated cleverness. If we offered it straight, it might not be palatable. People won't be interested. They won't read it. They won't come to the program. I think cute- ness is a passive form of communication. Out- spoken is aggressive. Straightforward may be the middle ground of assertiveness.

Cuteness creeps into the titles of educa- tional programs. Naturally, when you start thinking about a title for your next workshop or whatever, you try to come up with something clever. People will be more likely to come if it has a cute title-and if it doesn't tell what the program is about, you can put that in par- enthesis.

Here are some examples of what I consider "cute" titles culled from a randomly selected "Events to attend" column in the Journal. "It's a small world." That could be pediatric surgery or microsurgery. Maybe a travelogue. "The OR is A-mazing.'' No clues. How about "Body Tune Up." The parenthesis tell us that it is about total hip and knee replacement, but spark plugs and timing don't seem analogous to joint replacement. Here's another along the line of auto repair-"Spare parts-how, where, and when." "Plastics to the rescue." Or maybe you would go to "Inspiration vs Expira- tion." There were others equally obscure, but I have probably alienated enough persons al- ready. Just address your letters to me.

My point is that cuteness drives out useful information. You don't know whether the pro- gram is going to meet your educational needs, you don't even know what it is about.

Like crabgrass in a well-tended yard, cute- ness occasionally shows up in nursing journals and magazines. Cute titles catch the reader's attention. Like "Who's got the dinosaur?" Or "Without a hurt, a heart is hollow. . . laminar airflow isolation unit." "Systems Go." "We care." Supposedly, you will read the article to find out what it is about. The conflict for editors is this-do you write a catchy title to attract the reader's interest or do you write a title that conveys the scope of the content of the article? Will the title be useful to the nurse researcher who is perusing the Cumulative Index to Nurs- ing and Allied Health Literature? My personal preference is for a title that tells what the article is about.

How about "cute" T-shirts? "Love a nurse PRN." "Hug me, I'm a nurse." Are they de- meaning to the professional stature of the nurse? Can you imagine a surgeon wearing a T-shirt saying "Cut up with a surgeon"? Inci-

d- AORN Journal, June 1979, Vol29, N o 7 1209

dentally, the AORN Board of Directors consid- ers the use of the AORN logo on T-shirts and sweatshirts inappropriate.

Now, these remarks do not mean that I am discouraging the use of humor. The diff iculty is that humor is hard to handle. Used carelessly, it masks the substance rather than enhancing the thought. I am sometimes asked, “Why don’t you have more humor in the Journal?” The answer is that well-done humor is hard to come by. If it was easy to be funny, we wouldn’t need a laugh track on television. The principle

behind that seems to be that laughter is infec- tious.

But I believe that nursing does itself a dis- service when it hides its professionalism with cuteness. When colleagues in the health field and consumers see nurses treat their educa- tional efforts and their profession flippantly, they will not take them seriously.

Elinor S Schrader Editor

Lunn joins AORN CE staff Sharon Rose Lunn, RN, MS, has been appointed program specialist in continuing education for the Association of Operating Room Nurses. She will work with Assistant Director of Education Julia A Kneedler, RN, EdD, in providing support and coordination of AORN seminars and continuing education courses at the Jerry G Peers Education Center in Denver.

Her efforts will include planning, implementing, and evaluating continuing education offerings sponsored by the Association. Lunn sees a significant part of her role as working collaboratively with seminar and course leaders. Lunn is currently working to project a possible calendar of continuing education courses to be offered at the Education Center in the next year.

Lunn comes to AORN from the American Nurses’ Association in Kansas City, Mo, where she was coordinator for accreditation for three years. She has worked in continuing nursing education for almost 12 years, including acting as coordinator of staff development and consultant in continuing education in nursing for the Western Missouri Area Health Education Center-University of Missouri, Kansas City. In this position, she helped to develop continuing education endeavors for an l&county, rural region in Missouri.

A diploma graduate of the Sisters of Charity School of Nursing in Kansas City, Kan, Lunn received a bachelor of science degree in nursing education from St Mary

College, Leavenworth, Kan. She did postbaccalaureate work at the University of Kansas and Wayne State University, Detroit, before completing work in a master of science degree in adult education at Kansas State University, Manhatten. She has also done graduate work in adult nursing at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Lunn’s clinical experience includes work as a staff nurse, head nurse, and clinical area supervisor in general medical-surgical nursing as well as pediatric, intensive care, and emergency nursing.

Lunn’s interests include reading-‘‘I read everything, including labels on cereal boxes!”-and writing poetry. Now living in Colorado, “ 1 intend to take up cross-country skiing next winter,” Lunn vows. She added she is also learning to snorkel during vacations in Hawaii.

of AORN, Lunn says, “The professional caliber of the staff is very much evident, and I am especially impressed with the combination of professionalism and personableness here.”

Describing some of her first impressions

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