Nursing and the development of nursing education in Fiji

Fiji is one of Australia's Pacific neighbours. Nursing and nurse education in that country is at an exciting stage of development. The Ministry of Health in Fiji has recently introdeuced new nursing initiatives and is about to introduce a new pre-registered nurse curriculum in 2004. The introduction of the new curriculum will pave the way for the Fiji School of Nursing to merge with the Fiji School of Medicine, part of a more inclusive goal for healthcare education in Fiji. Other initiatives such as the introduction of the nurse practitioner role and nursing competencies have assisted nursing in Fiji to move towards this goal. This paper will explore these new developments in nursing as well as provide an historical account of the development of nursing education in Fiji.