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Nursing and Midwifery Education: Historical Perspectives

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Clinical Education for the Health Professions

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Abstract

Nursing and midwifery are old and well-established professions. While some of their history has intersected at different points, they are distinct professions underpinned by different philosophies. They have also developed in different ways as a result of complex political and social influences. Furthermore, midwifery in particular has developed in a variety of models globally and hence its education varies internationally. This chapter provides an overview of the historical development of professional education for nurses and midwives. It describes early historical approaches to the training of each discipline through apprenticeship-style models to subsequent education delivery in higher education institutions. In doing so, it explores some of the resulting international variations through local influences on evolution of the professions. It also describes how the two professions have at times intersected in their histories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing and Midwifery, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Lisa McKenna & Jenny Davis

  2. Northern Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Eloise Williams

Authors
  1. Lisa McKenna
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  2. Jenny Davis
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  3. Eloise Williams
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Correspondence to Lisa McKenna .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, School of Clinical Sciences, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Debra Nestel

  2. King’s College London, London, UK

    Gabriel Reedy

  3. La Trobe University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Lisa McKenna

  4. Bond University, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

    Suzanne Gough

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McKenna, L., Davis, J., Williams, E. (2023). Nursing and Midwifery Education: Historical Perspectives. In: Nestel, D., Reedy, G., McKenna, L., Gough, S. (eds) Clinical Education for the Health Professions. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3344-0_19

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