This document, prepared under the auspices of the Trilateral Initiative for North American Nursing, a professional organization of nursing, examines and compares nursing standards in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The report focuses on first-level, general nurses and advanced or specialty practice nurses, and is organized in four parts: (1) education standards; (2) education program approval and accreditation; (3) licensure, registration and standards of practice; and (4) certification and licensure of specialty and advanced nursing practice. In each part, separate monographs describe the practices and standards for each country; following the monographs, a section titled "Similarities and Differences," summarizes the information in tabular form. The final section in each part is a brief list of recommendations. Many of the monographs contain references, notes, and appendixes. A final section contains general recommendations and an action plan for the next phase of the study. Appended are a glossary, a list of organizations and associations referred to in the text, a list of project participants and contact persons, and lists of reviewers and translators. (CH)