To the Editors:

Reading your editorial on professionalism (September 2003:400–401) really saddened me. Just as I’m completing the requirements to renew my CCRN credential at the end of this month, I have to stop and think, should I bother? I first joined AACN and passed the CCRN exam in the mid-1980s and have been working as a staff nurse in critical care since 1972. I work 12-hour shifts in a surgical intensive care unit and also serve (and I mean serve!) as an officer in our collective bargaining unit, the United American Nurses. I have become active in collective bargaining for the safety of my patients, peers, and myself. Consequently, by your standards, I am not a professional.

During the last decade, I have become disheartened by AACN’s walk away from the bedside, as I have “gone the extra mile.” When I first became involved in AACN, I did so...

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