Nursing shares responsibilities for health care delivery with other professional disciplines through collaboration, consultation, coordination, leadership and research. As citizens, nurses assume leadership roles in monitoring and influencing health care policy. Education is a process which provides opportunities to expand and extend knowledge for continued growth and competence of the individual and the profession. Nursing education draws from a multitude of disciplines. It is a flexible process which fosters creativity, promotes continual learning, creates opportunities and provides challenges for the learner.
Nursing education seeks to assist the learner to formulate, assimilate and apply nursing knowledge.
As curricula progress from undergraduate to graduate, a selective focus affords students the opportunity to study in depth more complex knowledge structures in selected clinical areas, to refine clinical competencies in specialized nursing and to conduct clinical research. The effectiveness of nursing education is documented through evaluation and research. Educators and learners engage in an interactive process enhancing mutual acceptance, awareness and respect. As a community of learners, they augment knowledge, skills and attitudes in the preparation of the learner to practice nursing. Educators as facilitators encourage the learner to use critical thinking, develop insights, recognize patterns and find meaning in human experiences.