[An overview of how nursing education has evolved into professional training in North America]

This text is not intended to be a detailed historical account of the evolution of nursing education. It will instead highlight steps in the evolution of types and sites of nursing education, providing an overview of the steps that nursing has taken toward being a subject of study at university. It will also present an overview of the challenges and obstacles, in order to gain a better understanding of what is happening in a specific country and to enable comparisons between countries. This article is based on the idea that exploring specific conditions could help in understanding general trends. A general overview of the current situation is also proposed in order to highlight the steps taken in what has been an eventful evolution.