The title of this article came from the January/February 1977 issue of Nurse Educator, describing a graduate student debate about the relevant issues for nursing's survival as a profession. The two 2-hour debates were held in 1976 and involved 65 students and 5 clinical specialties. The issues are surprisingly similar to those today. Among the 16 categories were specialization in health care delivery, forces affecting professions, relationships between education and practice, access to health care, health care costs, nursing theory, nursing research, and the technology explosion. Nurse educators are still teaching the same topics, but the information load and complexity have increased significantly. Nursing research and nursing theory are now taught as stand-alone courses, and the number of new theories has grown immensely. One wonders how much distress was created by the technology explosion. It was not until 1986 that the ANA House of Delegates adopted a resolution that identified the need for nurses to use information systems for practice and education as well as implement Nursing Minimum Data Sets across the country. Most homes did not have a computer, and student time was spent in the library. Information technology is also now a stand-alone course in many institutions and a specialty in advanced degrees. No one disputes whether the nursing profession will survive anymore. It is thriving. The intriguing conclusion of this article stated that while students felt it would survive, when they based their decision on points made during the debate, the conclusion was it would not. All 16 categories of issues are still present today. Although the issues are more complex, if the same debate occurred today, would the results be similar? In 40 more years, will nursing have moved on to other issues, or is it the nature of health care and the role of the nurse that perpetuate the same issues?

Submitted by: Alma Jackson, PhD, RN, COHN-S, News Editor atmailto:[email protected].