Care to be a nurse? Reflections on a radio broadcast and its ramifications for nursing today

Nursing education in the UK has lagged behind most of the developed world since inception of Project 2000 because in England, a diploma has been accepted as the basis for education, unlike other countries (including Scotland and Wales) a degree has been the accepted standard for many years. While Australia's nursing education has been more protected, an anti-intellectualism is creeping in with a technical college now offering a nursing degree, and some universities lowering their admission standards for nursing courses. Changes in the UK being imposed through the influence of the global financial crisis threaten nursing even further and this is not helped by short sighted media reports of problems with nursing care in the National Health Service. This paper examines the continuing devaluing of critical thinking, something that we contend, with the strongest emphasis, should be at the core of every aspect of nursing practice, education and research., and implications for nursing in both the UK and Australia.