The thesis deals with the problem of professional training of future nursing specialists in the conditions of staged education in higher educational institutions of the USA. Higher education in the United States is characterized by a significant variety of curricula, disciplines, and specialties, which is the only social institution that performs important economic, social, and ideological functions. The nursing profession is respected and important in American society. This is influenced, firstly, by the qualitative training of specialists, and secondly – the compliance of the content of education with the realities of modern society.
The process of nursing and nursing education development in the United States began in the mid-nineteenth century. The development of nursing naturally necessitated the development of a system of professional training for nursing professionals. The American model of graduate nursing education is complex. Nurses have the opportunity to gradually improve their skills, each time obtaining a higher scientific degree (from bachelor to doctor of sciences). In addition, each educational qualification level or scientific degree is characterized by a wide range of training programs.
The introduction of multilevel in the education system helps to increase the mobility of students, teachers and administrative staff. The multilevel system of education is a guarantee of ensuring the necessary quality of higher education, mutual recognition of the qualification of relevant documents in the field of higher education, ensuring the autonomy of higher education. The peculiarity of the multilevel system of higher education is also that it focuses on the use of individual characteristics of the student’s personality, improving the quality of education and providing equal opportunities for this.
The system of nursing training in the United States is represented by six levels: licensed nurse or junior nurse, certified nurse, associate nurse, bachelor of nursing, master of nursing, doctor of nursing practice, or doctor of philosophy in nursing. At all stages of the system of professional training of future nurses in American universities are actively used innovative forms of work, including simulation training, case studies, problem-based learning, video and web conferencing (e-learning), teleteaching.
Nursing education in Ukraine during the twentieth century was developing in isolation from the world of nursing education. This explains its non-compliance with international standards and norms. A comparative analysis of the levels of education in the system of professional training of future nurses in Ukraine and the United States shows that the American system of training nurses is much more extensive. There are six levels of training for future nurses in the US education system, and four in Ukraine. An essential feature of the training of nurses in the United States at the master's and doctoral levels is the presence of a large number of specializations. In addition, nurses in the United States are offered accelerated training programs. Forms of training for nursing in Ukraine and the United States are full-time (full-time), which are actively used in both countries, distance, which is also actively used in the United States and much less in Ukraine, part-time, which is used only in Ukraine and accelerated learning, inherent in the US education system, which allows students to take a short course of study. Both in Ukraine and in the United States, both traditional and innovative methods, techniques and teaching aids are used in the training of nursing specialists. A significant difference between the American system of training nurses is the significant predominance of practical training over theoretical, namely laboratory and clinical practice. Despite the fact that in both countries the nurse is a physician's assistant, in the United States she has more authority than in Ukraine, because in some health care facilities, having the appropriate qualifications, the nurse has the right to decide on the treatment of the patient.
Expanding the boundaries of nursing practice in Ukraine is possible using the American experience of training nurses. Higher education in the United States is characterized by a significant variety of curricula, disciplines and specialties, which is a single social institution to perform important economic, social and ideological functions. Revision of the structure of educational and qualification levels, introduction of credit-modular form of education, improving the quality of education and its compliance with European standards based on new state education standards, creating an effective system of lifelong learning, as well as using American experience of training future nursing professionals in general, reforming the system of nursing education in Ukraine and adapting it to the European one.
