The road to conversion for enrolled nurses: a literature review

The literature concerning the plight of the enrolled nurse (EN) is extensive. This article examines published material from the last 10-12 years to consider the problems that ENs experience in relation to professional development and career advancement. For many ENs, conversion to first-level registration is seen as the only means of progress and possibly the only means of retaining a career. However, does conversion actually achieve progress? The literature on this subject is scarce but reports suggest that converted ENs do go on to achieve promotion and make use of educational opportunities (Crotty, 1990; MacGregor and Hill, 1996). Nevertheless, there is a substantial number of ENs who have no desire to convert to first-level registration and their role should be valued.