This text aims to provide a comprehensive core text covering the subjects to be studied by all nurses in the first 18 months of the Project 2000 nursing programme. The nurse training programme, P2000, requires all student nurses initially to follow an 18 month course in the basics of nursing. This period of study is called the Common Foundation Programme (CFP), and this textbook covers the entire syllabus of the CFP. It provides all the necessary factual information, and also covers the more controversial and emotive issues in nursing today. It is divided into 4 sections: the Individual, Self and Society, Concepts of Health, Nursing: Fundamental Principles and Skills, and An Introduction to the Main Client Groups. It contains questions and projects for further study and investigation, and the layout includes highlighted boxes showing care plans to link concepts directly to practical experience.