NURSING DEVELOPMENT UNITS - AN OPPORTUNITY FOR EVALUATION

The nursing development unit movement has recently generated a lot of financial and professional interest. This is demonstrated by the large financial investment by the Department of Health, England, and the gr owing number of papers in the nursing literature. The bene fits of the se units, however, are not as well documented. This paper seeks to con tribute to the debate by: reviewing some of this literature and puttin g the movement in a historical perspective; discussing the purposes of the units; critically examining the characteristics of such units; ev aluating their effectiveness; and suggesting a way forward for the fut ure.