Medicine and Nursing

Professions in a Changing Health Service

As the largest employer in Western Europe, The National Health Service retains an impressive staff of doctors and nurses. These men and women not only represent the current status of gender in the workplace but provide a microcosm of society as a whole. Reflecting both the strong traditional elements and contemporary political and social forces influencing professional medicine, Medicine and Nursing offers a detailed examination of the collaborative efforts of doctors and nurses within this (NHS) organization. Focusing on workers in the acute hospital ward, Walby analyzes the effects of "new wave" management on these previously autonomous teams. Discussing possible movement from Fordist to post-Fordist methods of work organization, she also considers the impact of such changes on issues including professional boundaries and interprofessional relationships. With its theoretical emphasis on the debate over the evolution of structured employment, this work will be essential reading for students in the sociology of work and professions, publis sector management, health studies, nursing studies, medical sociology, and women's studies. "Medicine and Nursing is a thought provoking book that has wide appeal and will help all members of the multiprofessional team think through their roles and responsibilities, particularly in the light of changes in junior doctors' hours and the expansion of the nurses roles." --Alison Kitson in British Medical Journal