Advanced Practice Nursing
June 10, 1998
in response to Primary Care Nurse Practitioners: Do Not Blend the Colors in the Rainbow of Advanced Practice Nursing
Dear Editor:
As a student in a Family Nurse Practitioner Program I found the article "Don't Blend the Colors of the Rainbow of Advanced Practice Nursing" to be very educational as well as inspiring. I know that it is important to discern the various advanced practice roles of nursing. I agree with the advanced practice rainbow that this article painted.
Since becoming a nurse, I have felt that many of the political battles that we've fought to be recognized as professionals to be the result of a lack of differentiating our practice by education and specialty training. As you are aware, diploma nurses, associate degree nurses, and baccalaureate nurses are viewed as equals in the hospital job market. Advanced education, even at the entry level, is rarely respected monetarily. I believe this is because we have failed to demand separation by education or experience.
Nurses make a large contribution to the health and wellness of society today. As Ms. Brown stated in her article, advanced practice roles are in the entrepreneur stages at best. As those roles emerge it will become increasingly important to make well defined boundaries between the specialties. Professionally, it will empower us in the eyes of our fellow workers.
I applaud Ms. Brown's attempt to open our eyes to the problems of blended roles. I would also like to challenge others to take a political interest in the role development both locally and nationally.
Wendy Torres
Winge101@aol.com
