Regarding "Not Your Mother's Clinical Education" (In the News, July): How interesting that the report from the meeting of the National League for Nursing Think Tank on Transforming Clinical Education highlights the shortage of clinical placements and recommends that "students [be] offered intensive clinical experiences throughout their years of study . . . and more hospital units on which all staff are dedicated to nursing education." The best-case scenario, according to Christine Tanner, is one in which students are "from a single school, so the staff knows the curriculum and the faculty."

This is precisely the type of training I experienced 35 years ago, when schools of nursing were actually part of hospitals. The emphasis was on a varied clinical education learned "on the job," and academic study was presented in four-week blocks. Students were expected to continue the bulk of their education in self-directed study.

Has nursing needed a college education to arrive at the conclusion that what we had then was a lot better than what we have now?

Jackie Hymers, RN, CFCN

Tucson, AZ