Chronic care undergraduate nursing education in Australia

• Tertiary education providers should consider evidenced based models as key components of a curriculum
• Using international models of health care support a flexible and mobile nursing workforce to address current trends
• In Australia, the majority of tertiary education providers give limited weight to the importance of chronic care models

SummaryThe Chronic Care Model developed by Wagner is recognised to provide a systematic approach to managing chronic care. It has been adapted by the World Health Organization to become the Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions Framework. Together these have been demonstrated to provide an effective framework for chronic care management in a variety of settings. In order to prepare Australian nursing graduates for a changing health system it is important to recognise global issues and to prepare them to work within well recognised models. This paper examines the publically available documentation of pre-registration nursing degrees in Australia for their alignment with the Chronic Care Model and the Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions Framework. Those aspects of each which are well addressed are identified along with those which could be improved.