Think about it: The bedside nurse (aka, the staff nurse, the direct caregiver), is what this whole thing called nursing is all about. All other aspects of nursing serve only one purpose: to support the bedside nurse, because he or she is the single most important element in healthcare along with the physician.
Nursing school instructors serve to produce bedside nurses. Managers manage so the bedside nurse can more efficiently do their job. Researchers with DNS and PhDs only exist to provide information that ultimately can be used by the bedside nurse. The nursing shortage is all about the bedside nurse. Think about it: almost all functions in a hospital revolve around the bedside nurse and the physician. Even the cook in the kitchen is only there so the patient's nurse doesn't have to go and cook the meals.
Of course, "bedside" includes any bedside, not just a hospital bed (hospice, home health, LTC, etc.,). The point is, the apex of nursing practice is the bedside nurse. It is ironic that the lowest status in nursing is also had by the bedside nurse.
I wonder why that is? Whatever the case, who can deny that the whole of the nursing profession rotates around the bedside nurse? Why would anyone ever want to be anything else?
