This book is planned to provide guidance for nurses in planning, conducting, and evaluating programs of continuing education; content is built on the collective experiences and thinking of a regional group of nurse educators engaged in developing a coordinated program for a large geographical area. After discussion of changing patterns of health care, it enlarges on the place of continuing nursing education within the organizational structure of the university. Then follow a chapter on developing the curriculum--assessing needs, defining objectives, and designing activities to achieve these objectives--and one of teaching methods. A chapter covers the choice of human, physical, and material resources; another discusses the consultation process. Another covers financial resources (grants, contracts) and budgeting and provides a sample budget for a conference. The next discusses an effective public relations program. Finally there is a description of the series of continuing education workshops conducted from 1957 to the present by the Continuing Education Seminar of the Western Council on Higher Education for Nursing. (WCHEN). Appendixes discuss responsibilities of teachers of continuing education courses, conference equipment and supplies checklist, meeting room chart, and literature resources. There is a bibliography. (EB)