The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), at a special January meeting to act on recommendations of its Task Force on Education and Regulation for Professional Nursing Practice, passed a resolution calling for a "new nursing professional for generalist practice," the clinical nurse leader (CNL), who would be required to hold at least a master's degree. Although the AACN views the role of the CNL as different from that of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS), the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) does not. In a position paper released March 14, the NACNS states that "the proposed competencies of the new nurse duplicate the competencies of the CNS" and maintains that such changes would only serve to "disenfranchise clinical nurse specialists." Whether this is true remains to be seen: more than 75 institutions and clinical agencies are entered in a pilot implementation program. For more information on the CNL, go to http://www.aacn.nche.edu/NewNurse/index.htm. -Maureen Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, news director