Preparing an educated nurse : past and future trends within the UK and mainland China : a case study

In the UK, the proposition that (general) nurses should be trained was not considered a necessity until the middle of the 19th century (Jolley 1987). The idea came from the demand for proper care during a time of war (Hallett 2010). On the other hand, nursing in mainland China has different origins, though interestingly intertwined with the west. There were no identities or roles for nurses per se in culture-rooted Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). However in mainland China, nursing and nurse education were imported by American missionaries in Author details Rongrong Zhang Faculty of International Medical Technology, University of ShanDa, ShangHai, P R China Corresponding author: Professor Judith Lathlean Professor of Health Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, Building 67, E4007 University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, UK, SO17 1BJ Tel: 0044 23 8059 8234 email: [email protected] the late 19th century. Thus, modern Chinese nursing and nurse education have been based on a western concept.