Stein-Parbury focuses on the role of nursing education in Australia, indicating that it has only been since 1991 that nurses achieved the educational level of a bachelor degree for entry into practice. Presently, nurses can study at a university to receive varying levels of degrees from a bachelor's degree to a PhD in nursing. Professional doctorates include a Doctor of Nursing and a Doctor of Midwifery. Unique to Australia is the distinction between the Registered Nurse and the Enrolled Nurse. Enrolled Nurses undertake educational programs of study in the vocational higher education sector for about one year of full time course work and generally work under the direction of a registered nurse.
Registered nurses have the bachelor's degree as the entry level of practice.
Key issues for nursing in this country include anticipated shortages of nurses and how to deal with the poor health of the indigenous peoples of Australia. Janet Primomo, PhD, RN, in the second article , notes that Japan is a highly modern, yet traditional society that is undergoing change due to an aging population. The aging of the Japanese society is a driving force in nursing, nursing education, and health care reform in Japan. In the next century, one quarter of the Japanese population will be over 65 years of age. Nursing, as a profession, is responding to this change through involvement in policy decisions and service enhancement for the elderly.