While vast numbers of nurses across the globe contribute in all areas of healthcare delivery from primary care to acute and long-term care in community settings, there are significant differences in how they are educated, as well as the precise nature of their practice. This comprehensive handbook provides a research-informed and international perspective on the critical issues in contemporary nurse education.

As an applied discipline, nursing is implemented differently depending on the social, political and cultural climate in any given context. These factors impact on education, as much as on practice, and are reflected in debates around the value of accredited programmes, and on-the-job training, apprenticeship, undergraduate and postgraduate pathways into nursing. Engaging with these debates amongst others, the authors collected here discuss how, through careful design and delivery of nursing curricula, nurses can be prepared to understand complex care processes, complex healthcare technologies, complex patient needs and responses to therapeutic interventions, and complex organizations. The book discusses historical perspectives on how nurses should be educated; contemporary issues facing educators; teaching and learning strategies; the politics of nurse education; education for advanced nursing practice; global approaches; and educating for the future.

Bringing together leading authorities from across the world to reflect on past, present and future approaches to nurse education and nursing pedagogy, this handbook provides a cutting-edge overview for all educators, researchers and policy-makers concerned with nurse education.