A Unified Action Research Strategy in Nursing

Abstract

Our four‐year collaborative action research project, ‘Patient‐centred Nursing in Practice’, is a study of major change from traditional, standardised nursing to patient‐centred nursing. Our action research partnership was set up to help nurses in an acute medical unit to develop patient‐centred nursing, through the work organisation method known as primary nursing. The major thrust of study is the unravelling of the complex organisational, personal and professional changes required for such a practice shift. In this methodological paper, we present our action research strategy which unifies five quite distinct activities: (1) introducing innovation and facilitating change; (2) helping practitioners to research their own practice; (3) facilitating professional learning and reflective practice; (4) working towards the democratisation of health care through the emancipation of nurses who are, traditionally, trapped in a bureaucratic nursing hierarchy and in oppressive doctor‐nurse relationships; and (5) generating and testing theory.