Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney: towards Clinical Development Units (Nursing)

Clinical Development Units (Nursing), also known as Practice Development Units and Nursing Development Units, are nursing units that continually strive for excellence in nursing practice. Nursing units endeavouring to attain, or having achieved, the standards required of a Clinical Development Unit (Nursing)--CDU(N)--provide a very motivating and stimulating environment for nursing professional development. This paper provides readers with an understanding of the underpinnings of a CDU(N) along with why and how a nursing unit would strive for this status. A priority of senior nurse management at a rehabilitation facility in Sydney, the Royal Rehabilitation Centre, has been working towards the upgrading of every nursing unit in their facility to the level of a CDU(N) over the past three years. By way of an innovative course, the Clinical Development and Leadership course developed by Professor Jennifer Greenwood in 1997, senior nurses are being provided with the knowledge and skills to enable them to work towards their goal of becoming part of a Clinical Development Unit (Nursing).