As we celebrate Nursing Week 2002, the publication of the RNAO's Nursing Best Practice Guidelines (BPGs) is symbolic of the significant advances that have propelled nursing forward over the last quarter century. Best Practice Guidelines suggest the real possibility that we can integrate science to its fullest, and bring the most current practices to the daily lives of patients, clients and families.

Best Practice Guidelines represent the best of decades of research, technological development and the movement to develop evidence-based practice. I am a big believer in the idea - with the caveat that we not repeat mistakes made with other milestones in nursing. For example, many rushed to bury the notion when the first generation of nursing theory didn't "work" like magic in the first go-around. Let's not live that pattern again with BPGs.

Collectively we have before us a potential solution to lead us toward optimal patient care, but to do so successfully, we need to juggle all the balls and keep our eyes on four key challenges looming around this project.