Nursing and the Division of Labour in Healthcare

This book examines some of the sociological frameworks that are related to nursing and the division of labour in health care and successfully links contemporary developments, such as expanded nursing roles, participatory care and continuing professional development, with wider sociological concepts,such as power and social conflict.

Abstract

This book examines the division of labour between nurses and other health professions and occupations. It connects classic sociological concerns with practical problems affecting the contemporary NHS, such as : skill-mix in hospitals; the emergence of new roles; the shifting boundaries between medicine and nursing; and the barriers to change that exist. The book contains a series of case studies illustrating tensions, conflict and accommodation observable when occupations, or sub-groups within occupations, negotiate new working relationships