The Changing Shape of Nursing Practice: The Role of Nurses in the Hospital Division of Labour

Bringing sociological theories and nursing practice together, The Changing Shape of Nursing Practice develops a dynamic conceptualisation of the nursing role which is rooted in the work setting. It looks back to the factors which have shaped nursing work in the past and forward to those which are likely to shape it in the future. Nurses' work is changing in two respects: in terms of the place nursing occupies within the health care division of labor and in terms of the routine shifting of work boundaries that nurses experience in their daily work. Davina Allen draws on her detailed observations of the reality of nursing work in a district general hospital to explore these linked themes, focusing on five key work boundaries: -nurse:doctor -nurse:manager -nurse:sup worker -nurse:patient -nurse:nurse TheChanging Shape of Nursing Practiceprovides unique insight into many of the tensions and dilemmas nurses routinely face and the processes and constraints through whichtheir 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 an integrated approach to health and social care is seen as the key to the provision of improved services.