On November 10, 2007, the American Academy of Nursing named its fellows for 2007. Fifty-four nurse leaders, including three from outside the United States, were on the list. Dr. Liu Huaping, Dean and Associate Professor of the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) School of Nursing, is the first Chinese to receive the honor.

Born in 1958 in Beijing, Liu became a registered nurse after graduating from the PUMC Hospital nursing school in 1979.

"The role that a nurse should play, according to what my teachers told me some thirty years ago, was simply as the doctor's assistant," Liu told Beijing Review. "Our task was simple -- practicing the basic nursing skills and finishing the allocated work. Our minds were simple too. Every day I concentrated on every trifle in the hospital rather than thinking a bit deeper about why I should do this or what should be done to better serve the patients; not to mention the future of nursing education," Liu recalls.

Hunger for change

Liu received her master's degree in nursing at Texas University in 1992, and a doctorate in nursing at George Mason University in 2002. Her work experience at home plus learning experience abroad pushed her in the direction of improving nursing education on her home soil.

In fact, the PUMC nursing school, the predecessor of the place Liu currently serves in, enjoyed a significant position in China's modern medicine and the development of nursing education. It was instituted by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1920. Less than 300 high-quality nursing graduates were to emerge from this school till the 1950s, China's first Nightingale Medal winner among them.

In 1950, however, the nationwide bachelor's degree program in nursing was replaced by a secondary vocational training program, under the government's decision. As a result, the nursing school was closed down in 1953. In 1957, after the first class graduated from PUMC nursing school special course, it was renamed the PUMC Hospital nursing school, recruiting nurses for the affiliated hospitals of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Ministry of Health.

With the implementation of China's reform and opening-up policy since 1978, the nationwide higher education in nursing was resumed in 1984, and the Nursing Department of PUMC was set up a year later.

The absence of higher education for more than three decades, according to Liu, deepened the gap between nursing and other disciplines, not to mention international level.

"Nursing as a discipline grew rapidly in the recent two decades because of the country's economic and social developments," Liu noted. "From an educator's perspective, however, one is totally aware of its problems.

"Firstly, few people view it as a specialty, because there is yet to be a clear and academic definition of nursing. Secondly, the course setting we adopt -- internal medicine plus nursing, jointly offered by doctor tutors and nurse tutors -- is outdated. In the U.S., for instance, nursing courses are independently offered by nurse tutors, who will teach students how to better assist doctors rather than replace them. Thirdly, the teaching quality is yet to improve."

Keeping up with the world

Several changes occurred in 1995, the 10th year since the establishment of the PUMC Nursing Department. Experts in nursing education at home and abroad participated in a workshop for nursing curriculum reform. In 1996, the PUMC School of Nursing was established; at the same time, an education reform project was also launched on campus.