I'm responding to the negative comments about the January article, "Postcards from the Past: A Salute to Nursing Specialties" ("Outdated Image?" Letters, March 2004). I think it's fascinating to see what nurses wore back then and the evolution to today's attire. I loved the pictures in the issue and especially on the cover. I'm going to purchase the cover image to remind everyone that nursing didn't start in colorful scrubs!!

IRENE MENDOZA, LVN

New Braunfels, Tex.

I nearly fell off my chair laughing when I read the criticism of your January cover. Nurses have always been aggressive, smart, and caring. Nursing has always been a hard game and no place for the timid. Modern nursing is where it is because of the contributions of past generations of nurses, not because nurses are suddenly smarter or more gifted.

I'm a 1958 graduate of Hotel Dieu Hospital School of Nursing in New Orleans, and proud of it. We were taught that we were professionals and not handmaidens to the physicians. Aggressive nurses? Yes!! And our administration was proud of us and stood up for us.

Nursing as a profession needs to stop sneering at those who don't have a BSN, and start respecting all aspects of nursing education. I was blessed with great instructors, and I thank them for laying the groundwork for a fascinating career. To all the younger nurses coming in, please take good care of nursing. I am so proud of my career and all the people in it.

VIRGINIA BAYLOR MALIK, RN (Ret.)

Laplace, La.

The comments appearing in this column are excerpted from readers' correspondence. Send your letter, complete mailing address, and credentials to: Letters Editor, Nursing2004, 323 Norristown Rd., Suite 200, Ambler, PA 19002, or e-mail to [email protected]. Please include your e-mail address and daytime telephone number.