Nursing education and health care in China: a study tour

The authors visited six health care facilities in three cities (Beijing, Xi'an and Kunming) in China while on a ten-day People to People Ambassador and American Academy of Nursing sponsored tour. Hospitals visited were Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), ranked the #1 hospital in China with over 1,800 beds and 1,350 nurses; 6th Affiliated Hospital at Beijing University, the Institute of Mental Health, known as the National Center for Mental Health; Community Healthcare Service Station of Fuxing Hospital; Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Pan Long District; the Kunming Medical College Nursing School, and the Faculty of Nursing at Xi''an Jiaotong University. In 1952, the new government closed higher education programs and secondary technical level programs became dominant. BSN programs were re-established in 1983 when PUMC re-established the nursing program. There are 1,307,800 RNs in China to care for 1.3 billion persons. BSN graduates do not have to take the licensure examination; they are awarded licensure after graduating from college and working for one year.