Nurses
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Why is a licensed nurse who receives a promotion called an “ex-nurse?” Sheila Burke’s appointment to chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R--Kan.) was headlined this way (Times, Feb. 9).
Let’s assume that a physician or an engineer had been appointed to the post. I suspect that no one would find it necessary to divorce them from their professional identity. Instead, there would be an easy assumption that a member of the profession was expanding his or her professional base by assuming a leadership position.
Burke is a licensed nurse. Although she no longer practices clinical nursing (and a license is not required to perform her expanded duties), I believe the profession is proud and continues to recognize her as one of their own.
We do nurses a disservice when we signal that aspiring to higher positions means loss rather than gain. It reflects the writer’s amazement that “only a woman” was appointed. Now that nurses are lawyers, consultants, managers, and policy analysts, as well as care-givers, let’s accept it. If being a nurse is newsworthy, let the headline read, “Nurse Gets Top Capitol Aide Job.”
LOIS FRISS
Los Angeles
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