Two January articles, "The Top Nursing Story of 2008: Why Can't Nurses Just Get Along?" (In the News) and "The Initiative to Create a National Nurse: Stalled" (AJN Reports), have striking similarities. It's disappointing that our nursing leaders don't support the establishment of the Office of the National Nurse, which would clearly benefit our profession and improve public health.

What Teri Mills and the National Nursing Network Organization (NNNO) are proposing seems logical, practical, and cost-effective. Most nurses and nursing organizations agree that the position of chief nurse officer of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) needs to be elevated, so it's difficult to understand exactly what the nursing establishment is opposed to. Professional nursing organizations are seeing a decline in membership; doesn't that make it even more apparent that we need a national nursing leader?

Karen Walker, RN

Hillsboro, OR