Imperatives for the future of critical care nursing

In the past, nursing has tended to rely on others to predict the professional future and to suggest specific actions and strategies to make that future a reality. Each of us entered nursing practice with a vision of what the profession of nursing is. Although we may have become distracted in the interim, each of us continues to have a desired vision of the future. Critical care nursing practice can either serve as the basis for innovative leadership in the continuing evolution of autonomous nursing practice or it can continue on an evolutionary track of critical care medical practice implemented by nurses. If your vision of the future is one in which critical care nurses engage in more than the implementation of pharmaceutical and medical treatment regimens, then your vision is worth making a reality. If you believe that critical care nurses make unique and valuable patient care contributions--greater than simply retooling with every technologic advance--you need to help other nurses begin to consider your perspective. Contrary to what many people believe, the future does not just happen. Someone, whether it be a nurse, a physician, or another professional, determines by action or failure to act what the future will hold. Each nurse needs to accept responsibility for the current state of nursing. We each own a piece of nursing's future practice. I want to be sure that my piece of the future matches my vision for critical care nursing. I challenge each of you to acknowledge your vision and to begin to take action to place that vision into critical care nursing's future.