Reflections and projections on nursing.

The author looks at the environment within which nurses work and the services that are being delivered in the health care delivery system. These observations serve as the background for predictions about what nursing must do and become to honor its stewardship to the public. Today's environment is consumer driven, multicultural, and multigenerational.

Education for entry into nursing practice: revisited for the 21st century.

Professions progress through an expected evolutionary process. This consists of expanding the scientific base, creating technical workers to share in the essential mission of the field, standardizing and up-grading education for entry into practice, and moving forward with specialization. Nursing s progression has been spotty and incomplete, largely because of the influence of external communities of interest, and the fact that nurses have resisted and personalized decisions that are necessary for future generations.