A sociological approach to the analysis of nursing work

This paper describes, from a sociological perspective, the work of hospital ward nurses. An analogy is drawn between the work organization of miners at the coal-face and that of nurses in hospital wards. Work roles are considered in order to provide a framework for the analysis of the work of nurses. Multi-skilled and single skilled work roles are described and the concept of a hierarchy of nursing tasks is considered. Problems of observing and analyzing the work of nurses are highlighted with particular reference to the type of environment in which hospital nursing takes place.