This year’s 21st quadrennial congress of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) was marked by Professor Dame June Clark’s Inaugural Henderson Memorial Lecture. In the first of our series of extracts from ICN congress papers, we present this shortened version of her lecture

Virginia Henderson’s contribution to nursing in the 20th century has been compared to Florence Nightingale’s contribution during the 19th century. Her definition of nursing has shaped nursing theory and practice and is used all over the world. Here, Dame June uses Virginia Henderson’s definition as a basis for her own thinking about the nature of nursing now and in the next millennium.