A pluralistic evaluation of nursing/practice development units

Nursing/practice development units (N/PDU) are perceived as centres for pio neering, evaluating and disseminating innovative practice development and f acilitating the professional development of practitioners. This paper reports on a pluralistic evaluation research study of the nursin g/practice development unit accreditation programme provided by the Univers ity of Leeds, UK. Individual and focus group interviews were undertaken wit h key stakeholders involved III six nursing/practice development units. The se included: clinical leaders, team members, executive nurses, trust board members, general medical practitioners, nursing/practice development unit s teering group members, and accreditation panel members. Stakeholder percept ions of what constituted a successful :nursing/practice development unit we re elicited and then used to judge the success of the programme. Seven criteria for judging the success of nursing/practice development unit s were identified. These were: achieving optimum practice; providing a pati ent-orientated service; disseminating innovative practice; team working; en abling practitioners to develop their full potential; adopting a strategic approach to change and autonomous functioning. The findings highlighted differences between the rhetoric of a successful n ursing/practice development unit and the reality in which they function. Wh ereas all the units were actively involved in innovative practice developme nt, evaluation, dissemination and networking activities, several factors in fluenced the success of the units, in particular, the role of the clinical leader, the motivation and commitment of nursing/practice development unit members, financial resources, and the nature of support from managers, medi cal staff and education institutions. Although the nursing/practice development units had made significant progre ss in developing both healthcare practice and practitioners, there is still a need to consider how the claim that nursing/practice development units b enefit patients can be substantiated.