I have had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of the new book by Davina Allen – ‘The Invisible Work of Nurses (Allen, 2015). The book is based on an ethnographic study of nurses working in adult healthcare services in the UK. The study is a fascinating account of the work of nurses. In particular, Allen exposes and makes visible, something that we have known about nursing for a long time, but for which we have not had a discourse, that is that much of the significant work of nursing is invisible! Through her ethnographic study of the everyday work of nurses, Allen demonstrates the significant role that nurses play in what she calls ‘organising work’ – ‘… unremarkable as it first appears, nurses’ organising work contributes in important ways to the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare and that recognising its content, form and function and the knowledge, skills and logic that underpin it has important implications for our efforts to improve the service’ (page 148). Whilst Allen's research is not specifically focused on gerontological nursing, many of the practices she describes in detail in her research do relate to nurses meeting the needs of older people in an acute care context.
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