Integrated nursing teams: in whose interests?

Abstract

Within a health service that is primary health care led and emphasizes partnership and cross boundary working, the way in which health professionals and others achieve integration becomes increasingly important. This paper highlights some of the professional literature and research evidence on the benefits for nursing and patient care in primary health care when different nursing specialities work within a formal framework of collaboration. This is set against findings from a study on district nursing and their planned or actual participation in integrated self-managing nursing teams. The paper concludes by arguing that although the underlying rationale for integrated nursing teams would seem to have coherence and plausibility, the findings of this study and others indicate that there are issues which need closer attention. These include how competing managerial and medical agendas have influenced the development of integrated nursing teams, and whether existing patterns of self-management by primary care nurses have been overlooked.