In Response to: Differentiating the unique work of nurses

Dear Editor,

I am so glad to see that this is getting out to the mainstream of nursing. FINALLY. We have pushed this for years in the field of informatics nursing. Even as an APRN I had to convince our hospital’s provider coordinator that I was able to obtain an NPI & the hospital could bill for some of my services. Until I could prove a financial benefit, no one wanted to be involved! But “the work” has to be identified – not just the tasks performed, but also the nursing knowledge & integration that has to happen to achieve desired patient outcomes. After 40+ years of critical care & informatics nursing, it seems we have come full-circle in trying to define what we do: “…to provide the data that illustrate the skills, education, & work of nurses; the health-care outcomes of that work; & the information needed to pursue research that develops nurse guidelines & evidence-based practices.”

Karen Frank MS, RN, CNS (Retired), CCRN (Retired), RN-BC (Retired)
California