Nursing as a profession has devalued bedside nursing ("Reframing Hospital Nursing as a Specialty to Address the Staffing Crisis," Viewpoint, November 2022). I was told back in 1979 that the only "real" nurses were NPs. When I graduated, becoming an NP was my intention. However, I fell in love with bedside nursing and never looked back! We tend to direct the best and brightest to NP or other advanced practice roles and minimize bedside nurses' skills and abilities. In this day and age, we need the best and the brightest at the bedside. Critical thinking is the essence of bedside nursing.

Candy S., via LinkedIn