Nursing is a profession that affects patient care on a daily basis. This is a very important aspect of patient care, but establishing nursing education in every country has been difficult to achieve. Nursing education has undergone enormous transformations in many countries and has had a very significant impact on health care. China and Ireland are two very different nations, but both have improved to create a very successful nursing education system in their own countries. Political History and Development of Nursing Education: Comparison of China and Ireland The Chinese nation has gone through many difficulties, including the Opium War in 1842 which ultimately affected the nursing education system in China. There was an influx of Western missionaries and many of their ideas brought about these changes. The first hospital-based nursing school was established in 1888 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. These Western initiatives created the system and brought changes in the Chinese nursing education system. Many missionary nurses would work together to train indigenous nurses in many missionary nursing schools and hospitals (Y. Xu, Z. Xu, & Zhang, 2000). Nursing education expanded in China with the help of American missionary nurses, educators, and upcoming American foundations. together to achieve successful nursing education. For example, in Changsha, nurse Nina Gage established a nursing training program around 1910. Gage later became president of the China Nurses Association and dean of the Hunan-Yale Nursing School . Then, in 1920, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) established the first college nursing program. This program consisted of a 5 year course of study and it...... middle of paper ...... health care in their system was only run by doctors. In Ireland, nurses were excluded from policy making and only doctors were called upon to speak on health issues. The nursing profession has therefore been silenced in society (O'Dwyer, 2007). This would be frowned upon in today's environment as nurses directly affect patient care and their voice should always be heard. Fortunately, times have changed and both China and Ireland have strong nursing education systems that improve patient care.ReferencesO'Dwyer, P. (2007). The educational preparation of nurses in Ireland. Nursing Education Perspectives, 28(3), 136-139.Xu, Y., Xu, Z., & Zhang, J. (2000). The nursing education system in the People's Republic of China: evolution, structure and reform. International Journal of Nursing, 47(4), 207-217.