The new RCN leader on leadership, doctors, stress, patients and crying

On being a nurse leader: "My job is to offer my vision. The beautiful thing about it is when you share the vision, it changes. If you hold on to it, it won't change; it will only be your personal vision. The way to make it real is to share it."

On nurses, doctors and power: "We need nurses who have power, and nurses have a lot of power, but we just don't acknowledge it. We don't admit it. It's as if we had it and we left it somewhere Or, we think the physicians are going to figure out that we need it and they are going to just walk up and say: 'I know you have been wanting my power base for a long time, I came to just drop it off for you.' That really is hallucinating, colleagues, if you think a doctor is going to walk up to you and offer you some power. We have got to make sure there are other ways of getting power in order to manage change."

On taking her nursing exams: "I took mine in a barn. It was the state fair grounds, and we knew the animals had been in there just the day before. It had that antiseptic smell to it, but we knew the cows and the pigs had just recently vacated the place. I remember, they kind of lined us up (we are very regimented in nursing) so it was like a sort of concentration camp at the time, and our monitors were like the Gestapo."

On seeing the big picture: "We allow petty things to get in our way. One of the things I've been blessed with is I don't get caught up in petty things."

On being a role model: "Seventy-five per cent of getting there is seeing yourself there. I would not take it personally if they thought to themselves: 'She's not that much, I could do that.' In fact I would say, go for it. That's really the whole issue. I hope others will say, I can do this. I can do what Bev Malone does."

On nurses' traditional role: "Clinical expertise is not going away ... We are always going to have to go with hands-on care. There is nothing wrong with any of the new things, but it doesn't eliminate the need for individuals to feel the touch."

On managing stress: "Managing yourself is so important. Make sure you treat yourself well. Find ways to give yourself some breathing time. Some rest time in between that crazy place called work and that equally crazy place called home. Find ways to buy yourself some bedroom door locks - and use them. And tell those wonderful family members that you don't want to be interrupted for 45 minutes after you get off, unless they are dying and they have documentation."

On getting in touch with your emotions: "If you have a tendency to cry, don't worry about it, you can get through anything, just get yourself lots of Kleenex. It shouldn't stop you from accomplishing anything."

On getting in touch with your charismatic side: "I know we can have charisma, but we (as nurses) are not packaging each other well. We tend to exhibit and demonstrate the pain in nursing. I think nurses luxuriate in pain. We have a special relationship with it. We value it, instead of just looking for some of the joy. Showing the joy in what you do is really the best definition of charisma."

On surviving organisational change: "One of the things nursing has developed is a great ability to deliver quality care in the middle of chaos. There is not a nurse I know who cannot manage that, and do that extremely well. We need to start thinking about acquiring a taste for the chaos."

On redefining the role of nursing: "We're talking about partnership - not just with patients - but among ourselves too. As boundaries etched in stone are coming loose, how are we going to work together? This new networking is going to empower patients and should empower us to deliver better care to our patients."

On patient advocacy: "One of the reasons I chose nursing was this. Perhaps you haven't noticed - I'm short - I'm wearing high heels today. Advocates can be tall. That's very attractive to nurses - patients will continue to need advocates.

"Patient advocacy is certainly not unique to the discipline of nursing, but we emphasize it especially because it is central to our vocation. As medicine rightly focuses upon illness and cure, nursing's focus is on the whole patient and making sure that patients' needs are met."

On patients: "Consumers must be the central focus of the health care system they have the right to full information and disclosure about their health care plans and providers with whom the plans contract.

On whistleblowing: "Nurses must be able to advocate for their patients without fear of retribution."