On November 1, the Deans of the 8 schools in the CMB China Nursing Network (CCNN) met in Chengdu to share accomplishments and challenges across projects in community nursing, policy research, and faculty development. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Network announced the charting of a new direction in education by creating a blended education model for PhD level nursing education that will combine regular courses with IT-based learning and interactive classrooms. The Network has formed partnerships with the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) for training of PhD nursing students, sponsored in-China research and training of 36 young nursing faculty members over three years, and trained 26 nursing faculty members through an online collaborative PhD-level program with the University of Arizona. The new blended learning model will build on these achievements.

Recognized is that if nursing is to succeed as a respected and successful faculty in China’s comprehensive universities, it must find ways to strengthen its PhD research faculty. This initiative is thus seen as critical to the enhancement and protection of nursing as an academic faculty in China’s leading universities. Dean Hu Yan of Fudan University, the Network coordinator, reported on her recent MOOCs Study Tour that strengthened the idea of building a PhD curriculum that would blend online and face-to-face education delivery. The Network would start by creating three core PhD-level courses, which could be accepted for credit across all participating member universities. In addition, the Network started plans to hold a forum in October 2014 to bring together graduates and faculty of the POHNED program, which supported training of Chinese nurses in Thailand in the 1990s.

2014 is also CMB’s 100^th anniversary year, which is significant to nursing in China as CMB’s Peking Union Medical College was the first modern medical school to admit women for nursing.

For more information about the CCNN, please visit its website.