Restructuring nurses' worklives and knowledge: case studies from England and Spain

To compare the relationship between restructuring of health care and the worklives and professional knowledge of nurses in England and Spain.

Healthcare governance and systems are being modernized across Europe. At the same time European populations are changing in terms of ageing societies, more demanding patients, increased technologicalization and new roles for women. This is changing the positionality of nurses situated between the state and the citizen.

This data was produced as part of an EU-funded research project. Data collection methods included literature reviews, national policy summaries and surveys. In addition, life-history interviews and observations were carried out with nurses belonging to different generations in case-study hospitals in England and Spain. Data were analysed using an interpretative, narrative approach. Results juxtapose analysis of global and national policy narratives with individual nurses' worklife narratives.

Analysis of the policy narratives position nurses in England and Spain as having moved from traditional to re-framed professionals. Worklife narrative analysis meanwhile demonstrates that in England restructuring narratives have worked their way deep into nurses' lives. In contrast, in Spain there is a large gap between the rhetoric of change and the reality on the ground so narratives can be described as de-coupled.