Canadian Nurses by the Year 2000

The directors of the Canadian Nurses' Association (CNA) have unanimously endorsed the concept of university preparation as the minimum requirement for nurses entering the profession by the year 2000. A task force has been set up by CNA to develop strategies so that the goal for the year 2000 can be reached. At the provincial level, seven provinces to date have voted to support the national association's position and the remaining three provinces are currently studying the feasibility of such a change. The expanding role of the nurse in the health care delivery system has created the need to prepare a liberally educated person to function as a professional nurse in a variety of nursing roles and health care settings. University nursing education is designed to prepare graduates for: caregiving which is the major task of nursing both in the hospital and in community health agencies; for management and leadership in head nurse and supervisory positions; for health promotion as practiced in schools, homes and in clinics; for teaching and counselling which is inherent in almost every patient care situation; and in health and illness screening, a recently acquired and complex nursing responsibility (Kramer