[Social interaction between nurses and female patients in the course oforganization of a Nursing Development Unit]

Following Friedson's work in the early 1970s, discussion about nursing's status as a profession took place. As a result the nursing development unit movement started in Great Britain in the early 1980ies. The goal of nursing development units is committed to both the development of nurses and nursing practice. The programme was supported by a grant of 3.2 million pound sterling from the British Department of Health. The last decade has witnessed a proliferation of these units. There a now over 300 (Draper, 1996). In Germany this programme of nursing development units is still rather unknown. The author believes that it should be discussed also in Germany as an effective instrument for the development of nursing as both an academic and a practice discipline. The central focus was to draw attention to the social interactions between nurses and patients within an NDU. Another question was whether nursing development units fundamentally represent an effective way to improve the standard of patient care by promoting excellence in nursing. In conclusion the level of patient oriented care and the quality of social interactions between nurses and patients has increased. However, examples for backward steps in the development of the unit the author visited were also found. The study shows that there were both conditions which inhibited and which gave support nurses' development and their practice.