Managing nurses and nursing: short courses as role development

This paper describes the development over a 3-year-period of short management courses for registered nurses offered as part of a professional development educational programme by Oxfordshire Health Authority (OHA) Clinical Education and Practice Team (OXCEPT). The courses were seen as role development for staff nurses, team leaders, sisters, charge nurses and senior sisters, and the content and length of courses were altered, extended and developed in response to evaluation of the courses by tutors and participants. The emphasis is on integrating participants' clinical, managerial and educational roles, as professional practitioners managing nurses and nursing.