Taking Control of Your Nursing Career

The last half of the 20th century has been marked by tremendous changes in nursing. Although the pace and outcomes of those changes have varied throughout the world, the goal everywhere has been to move from viewing nursing as a job to considering nursing as a career. These changes have created new roles, new work settings, and new colleagues for nurses. Nurses now work in a variety of settings - in institutions, in communities, and in independent businesses. Regardless of the status of nursing or the stage of its development in any one country, individual nurses require support in their practice and in their professional development. Career planning and development is an integral part of developing as a professional wherever nurses live and work.

Nurses have taken an increasing role within the profession and begun to look at how to create futures for nurses as individuals and for the profession as a whole. This book will address the need nurses have identified to take control of their personal and professional futures by providing them with the tools they require to engage in a comprehensive career planning and development process. There are several components:: Taking Control of Your Nursing Career:: Second Edition is jointly directed at students and practitioners; a Student Guide entitled Building Your Nursing Career; and an accompanying web site with additional resources and tools for students, instructors, and practicing nurses.