Fundamentals of Nursing was developed during a time of major health care reform. Changes in response to social, political, and economic factors calling for reform in the delivery of health care, have greatly influenced the settings where nursing is practiced. This text addresses the changes by recognizing that students, now and in the future, will have less clinical experience in acute care settings and more exposure to alternate settings, such as skilled nursing units, home health, and outpatient clinics, for clinical learning experiences. A holistic concept of people, health, wellness, and healing is used to avoid the fragmentation that may occur in some health care settings. A holistic perspective focuses on all dimensions of an individual, including physiological, psychological, social, cultural, cognitive, and spiritual. An individual cannot be divided into separate entities and still be viewed as a unique being. In keeping with the holistic perspective, many concepts (such as sexuality, spirituality) have been integrated throughout the text. Special attention has been given to provide a clear, concise presentation of content that is realistic for the beginning nursing student. This text is timely in its approach to content, recognizing the inherent changes affecting the health care delivery system and the nursing curriculum. The authors recognize the student as an active participant who assumes a collaborative role in the learning process. Content is presented to challenge the student to develop critical thinking skills.(nursing, fundamentals, introductory, holistic, critical thinking, nursing process, FON)