Rediscovering theatre nursing.

I must begin by saying that I am not a theatre nurse. My professional background is very much in medical nursing and I did not begin to think about theatres until I became a nurse teacher. It was then I found myself helping to prepare nurses for their alloction to theatres and, later, listening to their accounts of their experiences. I have to say that theatres were not, and are still not, a highspot in pre-registration courses as far as the majority of students are concerned. As a tutor, particularly as I became more involved in the development of Project 2000, I began to ask myself why this was. What were the implications and did theatre experience really matter. During the last year I have been talking to theatre nurses in different hospitals about how they see their work and whether tutors should still be sending them students. These talks have been very informal but my objective was to tease out the nursing element of theatre work. I very much support the view that theatre nursing exists and that it can be made explicit. I must emphasise at this stage that this work is very much in its infancy and, as yet, lacks strong theoretical dimensions. Comments and contributions from readers will be very welcome.