Regulatory mechanisms for nursing training and practice : meeting primary health care needs, report of a WHO Study Group, meeting held in Geneva from 9 to 13 December 1985

1. Introduction -- 2. Nursing education and practice in relation to primary health care : ideal and reality -- 3. Strategies for adapting and reorienting nursing education and practice to primary health care -- 4. Improving the education and practice of nurses in health systems based on the primary health care approach -- 5. Conclusion -- 6. Recommendations -- acknowledgements -- References -- Annexes.

Presents the findings and recommendations of a study group convened to examine laws and regulations governing the education and practice of nurses. Noting that national or subnational regulations often prevent nurses from exercising their full knowledge and skills, the book considers a strategy for strengthening the contribution of nurses to primary health care based on a reorientation of legislation. The objective is to show how regulatory mechanisms can be used to widen the education of nurses and encourage an expansion of the range of tasks they are permitted to perform, particularly within the context of primary health care. All categories of nursing work, including promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative, and managerial functions, are assessed. Readers are informed of the specific procedures authorized in the vast majority of 81 different countries, of tasks sanctioned by law in only a very few, and of factors, such as short supply of physicians and the willingness of nurses to serve, that help account for these differences. Of particular importance is a section describing the types of legislation, such as licensing laws and pharmacy acts, that tend to limit the evolving role of nurses and circumscribe or inhibit their contribution to primary health care. The report concludes with an outline of strategies for using regulatory mechanisms to reorient nursing education, expand the functions of nurses, and thus strengthen and accelerate their participation in primary health care programmes.