The potential of practice development still has to be fully realised in nursing and healthcare generally, especially at the corporate and organisational level. I imagine that its full potential is still many years, if not decades off. So it takes a real visionary and someone with massive determination to contribute to a movement that they may not be around (work wise) to see come into its own. It is this idea that is the cornerstone of this editorial for several reasons.

First of all as you will see, we have a special section where there is a tribute to Dr Sue Pembrey. Sue was well known to many nurses who worked in Oxfordshire during the Burford, Beeson Ward and Primary Nursing era. Indeed she had an impact on me as a nurse starting out with what I knew then as ‘change management’ – so simple. It is a great honour for us on the editorial board and for this journal to host this tribute. It does, however, make me wonder if we do sufficiently honour our leaders and if we keep a good enough account of our more recent history.

Also on the topic of vision and determination, I am extremely delighted to see that the second edition of Practice Development in Nursing and Healthcare edited by McCormack, Manley and Titchen has been published. The editors remark on how practice development is ‘underwritten by enormous commitment from passionate and determined people’. Perhaps you are one of those people, or if not now, you can or will be? The new book doesn’t forget the roots of practice development; building on these, the editors have woven together a text that celebrates the current state of practice development knowledge and showcases some of its application in healthcare settings. Several of the papers in this issue, likewise, contribute to enhancing knowledge in and related to practice development (for example on person-centred care). It seems to me at present, as a nurse in the UK, that nursing is more of a political football than it usually is. With what amounts to almost the blaming of nursing for many of the failings of healthcare (often of a systems and corporate culture nature), it seems that it is more important that practice developers in healthcare professions commit to securing a better future for those who follow us.

Planning ahead and ensuring that practice development has a thriving future is a key responsibility of us all, and more so when we are in leadership positions ourselves and knowing that it takes a good number of years for a practice developer to come into their own. With this in mind, it is great to see that our first time authors are students preparing to enter into a healthcare profession and that they have worked collaboratively with a practice developer working in higher education. The editorial team have worked very hard to get this issue to you, so we hope you find it stimulating, rewarding and unsettling in equal measures.

Reference

McCormack, B., and Manley, K. and Titchen, A. (Eds.) (2013) Practice Development in Nursing and Healthcare. Second Edition Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Jan Dewing (PhD, MN, BSc, RN, RNT, Dip Nurs Ed, Dip Nurs), Academic Editor, International Practice Development Journal; Professor of Person-centred Research and Practice Development, East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and Canterbury Christchurch University, Kent, England. Visiting Professor, Person-centred Practice Research Centre University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. Visiting Professor Aged Care and Practice Development, School of Nursing Midwifery and Indigenous Health Studies, University of Wollongong NSW (in partnership with Uniting Care Ageing SE Region).

This article by Jan Dewing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.