Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: Professional growth and transition: Role transitions -- Personal management: time and self-care strategies -- Mentorship and preceptorship -- Career development: Employment considerations : opportunities, resumes, and interviewing -- NCLEX-RN(r) examination and the new graduate -- Nursing: a developing profession: Historical perspectives: influences on the present -- Nursing education -- Nursing theory -- Image of nursing: influences of the present -- Nursing management: Challenges of nursing management and leadership -- Building nursing management skills -- Effective communication and team building -- Conflict management -- Delegation in the clinical setting --Current issues in health care: The health care organization and patterns of nursing care delivery -- Economics of the health care delivery system -- Political action in nursing -- Collective bargaining: traditional (union) and nontraditional approaches -- Ethical issues -- Legal issues -- Contemporary nursing practice: Cultural and spiritual awareness -- Quality patient care -- Nursing informatics -- Using nursing research in practice -- Workplace issues -- Emergency preparedness --