setting in health care and have been educated in a plethora of ways. Furthermore, two of nursing's victories in the 1980s were a significant increase in the average pay of a registered nurse (RN), and a massive increase in the proportion of nurses who hold some type of academic degree. Meanwhile, the practice of nursing, especially in institutions, continues to include both patient care and nonclinical tasks, much to the nurse's discomfiture.
Thus, the question arises of whether the better-paid, better-educated nurses of tomorrow will want to provide patient care "at the bedside"ùand whether health care will be able to afford their doing so. To Carolyn Roberts, MBA, a nurse who is president and chief executive officer of Copley Memorial Hospital, Morrisville, Vt, this is a key issue of nursing identity: "In most hospitals, many nurses want very much to be independent practitioners and decision makers; others want t
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