Review

NDU view

Interface between research and practice - some working models
Vaughan B and Edwards M
Kings Fund Centre, Nursing Development Units, London, 1995

This concise, stimulating report is the second in a series of publications which look at the work of nursing development units (NDUs). These Kings Fund supported units, of which there are at least 30 nationally, are pilot sites whose aim is to improve the quality of care to service users through the development of nursing and nurses.

The focus of this report is the integration of research into clinical practice. This is fundamental to the success of NDUs, and is currently under debate in other health care arenas. The experiences of practitioners working in NDUs are reported in relation to six models of nursing practice. For each model, strengths and weaknesses are discussed, leading to a discussion which attempts to analyse the effectiveness of each model in the delivery of quality care. No one model is favoured as more effective in achieving evidence-based practice but the reader is left to decide their own preferred approach from the six offered.

Overall, the report is supportive of the work of NDUs. It encourages and supports nursing practice on every page and examines the possibilities for improving care. Nurses know the impact their practice can have on the people they care for and this report will certainly stimulate and inspire many. As a nurse educator, I found it valuable to hear about excellence in nursing and to be inspired by the potential which exists and can be developed.

All nurses want to provide the best possible care for their patients and by the time I had finished this report I was left feeling how wonderful nursing was. Yet my everyday experience is of meeting nurses who feel tired, demotivated and isolated, who work within a constantly changing organisational and educational structure and who receive little support or encouragement. The ideal of providing quality, evidence-based care within NDUs is laudable. My concern is that the privilege of practising in this way, in a unit in which each person’s contribution is valued in an open and supportive atmosphere, may inadvertently benefit the few at the expense of the many. To move forward together, nurses must not encourage the development of a clinical elite.