A return to generic training can broaden nurses’ experience and prepare students for clinical situations

Nurse training in the UK is unusual compared with countries such as Canada, Ireland and New Zealand in that it is field-specific from the first day. But it has not always been that way. Before the phased introduction of the changes to nursing, midwifery and health visiting training in Project 2000 in 1989, most adult and children’s nurses qualified as general nurses before specialising.