Guest Editorial

Exploring Nursing Education in The People's Republic of China, Japan and Turkey

Marshelle Thobaben
Department of Nursing, Humboldt State University, Arcata CA, United States of America

Deborah A Roberts
Department of Nursing, Humboldt State University, Arcata CA, United States of America

Aysel Badir
School of Health Sciences, Koc University, Nisantasi -Istanbul, Turkey

Wan Hongwei
Shanghai International Nursing College, Second Medical University of Shanghai, China

Hiroshi Murayama
Department of Community Health Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Sachiyo Murashima
Department of Community Health Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Astako Taguchi
Department of Community Health Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

PP: 5

Abstract

The global nursing shortage has caused competition and cooperation between countries desperate for registered nurses (RNs), and has lead to an increase in migration and international recruitment of nurses. Some nursing diplomas or degrees earned in one country may not be transferable to another. As a result, there is growing interest in common standards and competencies of entry-level nurses to guide future registered nurse agreements between countries or multi-country licensure programs.

An exploratory study was conducted to investigate how entry-level nurses are educated throughout the world. The researchers sent a nursing education questionnaire to nurse educators in eleven countries inviting them to participate in the study. Nurse educators from The People's Republic of China, Japan and Turkey were the first to agree to participate in the study. They responded to questions about their country's nursing history, types of nursing programs, use of national nursing licensing examination, and social and political influences on nursing education. The nurse researchers did an analysis and comparison of the nursing education in each country.

Keywords

The People's Republic of China nursing education, Japanese nursing education, Turkish nursing education, nursing history, international nursing education, global nursing shortage

Article Text

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the history of modern nursing education in China, Japan and Turkey, the types of entry level nursing education, advanced degrees and the current challenges concerning the future of nursing education in each country. In addition, this study was conducted to obtain information about each country's historical, social and political influences on nursing education.

The Problem

The global nursing shortage has caused competition and cooperation between countries desperate for registered nurses (RNs). This has lead to an increasing trend toward migration and international recruitment of nurses. Some nursing diplomas or degrees earned in one country may not be transferable to another. This causes the inability of the nurse to practice without further education and a delay in fulfilling the role as a registered nurse. As a result, there is growing interest in common standards and competencies of entry-level nurses to guide future registered nurse agreements between countries or multi-country licensure programs.

Methodology

The researchers emailed a letter of invitation to participate in the nursing education study to nurse educators from Australia, Brazil, Canada, The People's Republic of China, Finland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Taiwan, Turkey and United States. The researchers either knew the nurse educators in each country or had identified key nursing educators through an extensive literature review. Nurse educators from The People's Republic of China, Japan and Turkey agreed to participate in the study. They responded in writing to an open-ended questionnaire about nursing education in their respective country. They were invited to edit and co-author this article.

The nursing education questionnaire was designed for nurse educators to self-report information about their respective country's nursing programs. It was developed by searching for information regarding the historical perspectives of nursing education and international nursing programs. The questions were developed to elicit information about history of modern nursing education, the types of nursing education programs, and the social and political influences on nursing education. The questions were grouped together on the same topic to make the questionnaire easier to answer. The researchers believed the answers to these questions would contribute to the information about how nurses are educated throughout the world. Refer to Table I: Questionnaire on Nursing Education, to review the questionnaire that was used in this study.

The researchers compiled and analyzed the nurse educators' responses to the questionnaire, as well as, data they had complied from a literature review on international nursing education. They sent their findings to the respective nurse educators in each country to review and validate its accuracy.

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