Degrees advance nursing profession

Re: “Do nurses really benefit from a university education?” (Letters, April 10)

Indeed, as Nathan Friedland writes, a “good nurse comes from the true desire to help people,” but this help can only be developed through higher education. The task orientation of the CEGEP-trained nurse as a highly skilled trade is important, but only part of the picture.

Nursing is an art and a science and, like any profession, must begin with a baccalaureate degree. This involves critical thinking, scientific investigation and the preparation of research-based practice. Nursing (some times called the oldest of the arts and the youngest of the professions) as an art is active, dynamic and developing and, in the words of Florence Nightingale, “the finest of the fine arts.”

Becoming a profession has a long tortuous history, and the entrance to the profession at the baccalaureate level is yet another important step in our evolution.

E. Moira Edwards

Beaconsfield