This important book, which complements the report by the Institute of Medicine, The Future of Nursing, opens with a comprehensive review of the nursing field by Diana J. Mason, the Rudin Professor of Nursing at the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, City University of New York, and editor-in-chief emerita of the American Journal of Nursing. The book includes a foreword by Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and contributions by Susan H. Hassmiller, the executive director, Donna Shalala, the chair, and Linda Burnes Bolton, the vice chair, respectively, of the IOM initiative that produced the report. Additionally, it contains reprints of twenty-four of the most significant articles on nursing. Some are classic pieces dating back to Florence Nightingale while others present current thinking on critical issues. This volume gives researchers, practitioners, foundation and government officials, students, and individuals interested in nursing a better understanding of the nursing field and the vital issues with which nursing professionals must grapple. The Nursing Profession includes topics such as Dealing with the nursing shortage Educating and training nurses Using advanced practice registered nurses to their fullest Quality and cost Long-term and community-based care Thoughts on gender and power A vision for the future In one comprehensive volume, the editors capture the history, the latest developments, and the current challenges in the field.