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Bringing together sociological theories and nursing practice this text develops a dynamic conceptualisation of the nursing role which is rooted in the work setting. It looks at the factors which have shaped nursing work in the past and those which are likely to shape it in the future.
Nurses' work is changing in two respects: the place nursing occupies in the health care division of labour and the routine shifting of work boundaries that nurses experience in their daily work. Drawing on her detailed observations of the reality of nursing work in a district general hospital, Davina Allen explores these linked themes, focussing on five key work boundaries:
*nurse:doctor
*nurse:manager
*nurse:support worker
*nurse:patient
*nurse:nurse
The text provides new insight into many of the tensions and dilemmas nurses routinely face and the processes and constraints through which their work is fashioned. It offers a new way of thinking about the nursing role which is particularly relevant at a time when the scope of nursing practice is expanding and when the integrated approach to health and social care is seen as the key to provision and improved services.
List of contents
1 Professionalism and managerialism 2 Conceptualizing the nursing role 3 The study 4 The intra-occupational division of labour 5 The nurse–support worker boundary 6 The nurse–management boundary 7 The nurse–doctor boundary 128 The nurse–patient boundary 9 Conclusions
About the author
Davina Allen is a Lecturer and Deputy Director of The Centre for Nursing, Health and Social Care Research, School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff.
Summary
This book brings together sociological theories and nursing practice. It looks back at the factors which have shaped nursing work in the past and forward to those which are likely to shape it in the future.
