On March 19, 1993, in Toronto, Canada, at Discovery International, Inc.\u27s, Biennnial Nurse Theorist Conference, five theorists participated in a panel discussion on: caring as an essence of nursing; the value of continuing to develop nursing theory; what constitutes nursing research; the role of advanced practice nurses. The theorists were Imogene M. King, Madeleine M. Leininger, Rosemarie Rizzo Parse, Hildegard E. Peplau, and Martha E. Rogers. Marlaine C. Smith was the moderator and presented the questions to the panel