Nursing in Context

Michael Traynor is Trevor Clay Professor of Nursing Policy at Middlesex University, London, UK. He has been working as a researcher in healthcare and nursing policy since 1989. He worked in the research unit at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in London from 1991 to 1996 on a national research project. After this Michael co-inaugurated nursing's only policy research centre based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine until 2004 when he was appointed to his current post. He has practised as a nurse and then health visitor in Cambridge and London. He is also Editor of the journal Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the social study of health, illness and medicine, and European Editor of Nursing Inquiry.

"...a much needed book which gives a flavour of modern-day nursing set against the back-drop of the development of the profession over the last century." "...an interesting and thought provoking text which addresses many complex issues concerning the nursing profession, its development and the current policies and drivers behind nursing in the 21st Century. It provides an honest debate about political and policy driven trends in current healthcare and the freedoms and constraints these place on today's nurse." - Karen Thompson, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Brighton, UK

• 1. The Changing Face of Nursing: Who are Today's Nurses?2. Nursing Education: In and Out of the University3. Who Regulates Nursing and Why?: The NMC and its Predecessors4. Nursing's Neighbours: Doctors and Healthcare Support Workers5. 'Evidence-based Everything': The Use and Limits of Research6. The Mystery of Poor Care: Why?7. Health Policy and Politics: Targets, Managerialism and Funding8. How to Influence Policy: Interviews with People Who Have.