I agree with Madeline Beaumont's letter to the editor regarding the shortage of nurse managers (November 2002). In sheer numbers, the nursing shortage is daunting, but an issue that has only been touched peripherally by nursing journals is the growing shortage of nurse managers. We've been careful not to ask our staff nurses to "do more with less," a mantra that got us into trouble in the '90s. However, that's exactly what we're asking nurse managers to do. Nurse managers are often expected to be all things to all people (patients, staff, executives). In addition, we expect our managers to be available 24 hours per day, but consider it unethical to ask a staff nurse to work 24 hours straight.

Dawn M. Penny, RN, BSN, CCRN