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Towards the Future: The Education of Nurses in Iceland Reconsidered

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Leadership in Nursing: Experiences from the European Nordic Countries

Abstract

Formal nursing education was established in Iceland in 1931 when the Icelandic School of Nursing opened and offered a 3-year programme comparable to the neighbouring countries. In 1973 the University of Iceland opened a 4-year Bachelor of Science (BSc) programme in nursing, adding a Master’s of Science (MSc) programme in 1998 and a PhD programme in 2004. Three major curriculum revisions have been made since 1973, in 1993, 2004 and 2015. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the development of nursing education at all levels with emphasis on the most recent reforms of the BS programme initiated in 2015. These reforms were motivated by varied societal changes. Strong emphasis is placed on the creation of a successful collaboration between academia and practice which is considered fundamental for effective clinical learning of students. A major assumption is that nursing is a practice-based profession with clinical learning being instrumental in the education. Strengthening the clinical education is a major objective in the revised curricula with the aim of assisting the students in developing and gaining practical skills and preparing them for complicated, multifocal and constantly changing working environment.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Nursing, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Herdís Sveinsdóttir, Þóra Jenný Gunnarsdóttir & Kristín Björnsdóttir

Authors
  1. Herdís Sveinsdóttir
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  2. Þóra Jenný Gunnarsdóttir
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  3. Kristín Björnsdóttir
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Herdís Sveinsdóttir .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Thóra B. Hafsteinsdóttir

  2. School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Helga Jónsdóttir

  3. Department of Nursing Science, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Olso, Norway

    Marit Kirkevold

  4. Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Helena Leino-Kilpi

  5. Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Kirsten Lomborg

  6. Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Ingalill Rahm Hallberg

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Sveinsdóttir, H., Gunnarsdóttir, Þ.J., Björnsdóttir, K. (2019). Towards the Future: The Education of Nurses in Iceland Reconsidered. In: Hafsteinsdóttir, T., Jónsdóttir, H., Kirkevold, M., Leino-Kilpi, H., Lomborg, K., Rahm Hallberg, I. (eds) Leadership in Nursing: Experiences from the European Nordic Countries. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10964-6_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10964-6_12

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-10964-6

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