Comparative analysis of higher nursing education in Ukraine and abroad

Abstract

In the modern world, a nurse occupies a key place in the healthcare system, acting not only as not only a performer of medical orders but also as an independent professional who provides care, coordinates treatment, and engages in health education. Rising demands on the profession necessitate obtaining higher education. For Ukraine, which is currently undergoing medical sector reforms and facing a workforce deficit due to the war and migration, analyzing the global experience of nursing academicization is critical for building its own sustainable training system. The aim of the study - to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the higher nursing education system in Poland, Germany, the USA, and Ukraine, identify their common and distinct features, and substantiate the possibilities of utilizing this experience to modernize nursing education in Ukraine. The study established that modern higher nursing education at the bachelor`s and master's levels is a multi-component structure that harmoniously integrates professional, research, managerial, and pedagogical components, enabling the training of specialists as clinical leaders and healthcare managers. Historical and theoretical analysis allowed for the examination of F. Nightingale's classical nursing models, which continue to form a solid scientific and philosophical foundation for the profession, defining care as an independent humanistic discipline. Within the comparative analysis, national training models and the legal status of nurses in four countries - Ukraine, Poland, Germany, and the USA – were analyzed in detail. As a result of the study, a comprehensive comparative analysis of higher nursing education models in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, and the USA was performed, which allowed for the substantiation of strategic directions for the development of this field. It has been proven that modern global nursing has definitively evolved into an independent scientific and clinical discipline, where the master's level serves as the foundation for forming the concept of advanced nursing practice.