Nursing is a profession that impacts patient care on a daily basis. This is a very important aspect of patient care, but the establishment of nursing education in every country has been difficult to achieve. Nursing education has gone through tremendous transformations in many countries and has had a very significant impact on healthcare. China and Ireland are two very different nations but both have improved to have a very successful nursing education system in their respective countries. Political History and Development of Nursing Education: Comparison between China and Ireland The Chinese nation has gone through many difficulties, including the Opium War in 1842 which finally affected the nursing education system in China. There was an influx of Western missionaries and many of their ideas led to these changes. The first hospital-based nursing school was established in 1888 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province and these Western initiatives created the system and brought about changes in China's nursing education system. Many missionary nurses would work together to train native nurses in many missionary nursing schools and hospitals (Y. Xu, Z. Xu, & Zhang, 2000). Nursing education developed in China with the help of American missionary nurses, educators and American foundations coming together to achieve successful nursing education. For example, in Changsha nurse Nina Gage established a training program for nurses around 1910. Subsequently, Gage became president of the Chinese Nurses Association and dean of the Hunan-Yale School of Nursing. Then, in 1920, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) established the first collegiate nursing program. This program consisted of a 5 year curriculum and... halfway through the document... healthcare 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. Therefore, the nursing profession has been silenced in society (O'Dwyer, 2007). This would be frowned upon in the current time frame because nurses directly influence patient care and their voice should always be heard. Fortunately, times have changed and both China and Ireland have successful nursing education systems that improve patient care. References O'Dwyer, P. (2007). The educational preparation of nurses in Ireland. Perspectives on Nursing Education, 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 Nursing Review, 47(4), 207-217.