When there's a major public health crisis, doctors are generally the experts sought out by the media to provide commentary on television, radio and other venues of mainstream media. This is how it has always been, and it will continue to be this way without a major shift in nurses' self-awareness and media-savvy assertiveness.

If nurses are the most trusted profession — as evidenced by the annual Gallup poll that asks Americans who they trust and who they feel is most honest why aren't nurses regularly utilized as sources of commentary when the proverbial feces hits the fan?

Should we crash the party?

I recently heard a spokesperson from National Nurses United discussing the current Ebola crisis on the radio, and I was shocked. To have a nurse quoted and interviewed even on the marginally progressive National Public Radio was astounding, to say the least.

As that particular nurse elucidated, many nurses are on the front lines of the Ebola crisis, and giving them a voice in the ongoing conversation is crucial. Yes, physicians have a great deal to say, but nurses have a perspective that is generally ignored by the media. If we're not invited to the party, perhaps we need to sneak in the back door and crash the proceedings in order to be heard.

The silence is deafening

In her seminal book, "From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public," journalist Suzanne Gordon cajoles nurses into action as advocates for the public, and as spokespeople for the profession. Media venues may not readily reach out to nurses, so it's our collective and individual responsibility to bring our voices into the fray by whatever means we can muster.

From Florence Nightingale's championing of hygiene and sanitation to The Henry Street Settlement founded in 1893 in New York City by nurse reformer Lillian Wald, nurses have been at the forefront of public health endeavors for centuries.

While we ostensibly began our history as nonprofessional handmaidens to physicians, the science and art of our profession have mushroomed into their own unique brand of human care. With autonomous advanced practice nurses now serving the public in many regions of the country, the recognition of our expertise (and our authoritative voice) should hopefully rise apace.

Nurses' public health credibility is stellar, and nurses can use this credibility to gain access to opportunities for speaking out, and sharing our knowledge and expertise.

"I'm just a nurse"

If we placed a dollar in a jar for every time a nurse humbly said, "I'm just a nurse," we'd have a significant amount of money in that vessel of humility. But is that a worthy vessel for us? I should think not.

Saying "I'm just a nurse" reinforces an erroneous belief that nurses are "nice, caring and compassionate," but not individuals to whom the public should turn for advice or expertise.

We are more than "just" nurses; we are trained and highly skilled professionals with all manner of expertise. Nurses are holders of a great body of specialized, collective knowledge, and that knowledge is worthy of sharing.

Increasing the public's understanding of who we are and what we do strengthens our standing in the larger culture, thus increasing the power of our voice and the respect that that voice engenders when it speaks.

We are more than handmaidens, and we can bring our wisdom forward as tools from which the public and the media can learn.

Cultivating media savvy

Savvy among nurses vis-à-vis the media is not necessarily a common trait, and nursing schools certainly do little to assist in this regard. Nurses' misguided humility also doesn't necessarily serve the profession, although being humble sometimes feels as if it's a part of our nursing DNA.

In 2014, there are luckily many nurses using the Internet to educate, inform and entertain others with our wit and wisdom.

Many savvy nurses are leveraging social media to our advantage, using their voices through sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube. Meanwhile, a plethora of nurse bloggers populate a sizeable corner of the "blogosphere," and those blogs are a veritable treasure trove of information and stories from the front lines.

For nurses, the final media frontier may be the oldest: newspapers, magazines, TV news and radio, and while we have taken social media and blogs by storm, we have yet to conquer that milieu. This is our next goal.

Go forth and speak

Nurses, utilize the media, make connections and make waves when there are waves to be made. Find out who covers public health and healthcare at your local newspaper, radio and TV stations, and offer yourself as an expert to whom they can turn. Let them know how valuable nurses' voices are, and prove yourself right by providing valuable content for their consumption.

Go forth and speak — for yourself, the public and our profession. Nurses are legion, and we have something to say.