Is nursing its own worst enemy?

In a thought-provoking interview, one nurse theorist poses a question related to nurses. She asks nurses to defend their profession as a profession rather than as a trade. This question should give rise to a resounding response that nursing is a professional discipline. Over the years many nurses have fought to be recognized as a profession by doing the real work of building a foundation to ensure nursing's future. Unfortunately, over the last few decades, the building of nursing science has taken a back seat to other concerns such as creating more layers of practice, continuing to confuse the public and our patients about who nurses really are and what nursing really does.