This book is designed to be a resource for those who are interested in or touched by nursing, in part to complement the report by the Institute of Medicine on the future of nursing. The editors attempt to capture the field in a single volume and to share the best thinking of those who study and practice it. Readers--whether researchers or practitioners, foundation or government officials, students, or simply lay people interested in nursing--should use this volume to gain a better understanding of the nursing profession and the issues with which those in the field and related fields are grappling. Major topics include: The history of nursing; the nursing profession; current issues and challenges, including the nursing shortage, educating and training nurses, utilizing advanced practice nurses to their fullest, quality and cost, long-term care, community-based care, gender and power, and new areas for nursing; and a vision for the future. The book begins with a comprehensive review of the nursing field by Diana Mason, the Rudin Professor of Nursing at the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, City University of New York, and former editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Nursing. Mason's chapter is followed by reprints of twenty-five of the most influential or significant articles on nursing--some of them classic pieces dating back to Florence Nightingale, others presenting more current thinking on critical issues.--Provided by publisher.