Summarizes the main conclusions reached during a major conference where nurses from throughout Europe convened to debate the re-orientation of nursing in Europe and develop a plan of action for the future. Particular attention was given to the implications on nursing practice of the health for all movement, including the need to move away from a preoccupation with the treatment of symptoms, based on the biomedical model of care, and the need to concentrate on advances in health rather than new technologies. Concerning future needs, the report notes the importance of career structures, incentives, and legal protection for nurse practitioners. Future challenges identified include the need to comfort and counsel a growing number of AIDS patients, an increasing population of the very old, and an increasing number of handicapped newborns that will survive longer than in the past. The report also anticipates that expectations of nurses will increase while resources remain limited and that a broad education, enabling nurses to work in the hospital or the community, will provide the basis for continuing education. The report concludes with a series of recommendations and a declaration of support for targets set to achieve health for all in Europe.

DC.EURO

eng fre ger rus.

dan.

WHODOC

WHO monograph

EUR/ICP/HSR 329

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