ABSTRACT
An important moment for me during the study fieldwork came when nursing staff were describing one of their perceptions about the ward round.This was encapsulated in the phrase ‘Breaking through the inner circle’.The words aptly described the spatial tensions occurring in the ward round, and summarised the experiences of nursing staff in their aim to contribute to clinical decision making. It represented the situation where medicine and nursing operated within their own domains, and how it was principally nurses who sought to influence medicine in order to re-define care delivery. This phrase became symbolic and, therefore, is used in the title of this book, and as the heading for this last chapter. In the chapter, I summarise the key themes to emerge from the book,and explore the implications of this work.Present and future opportunities will be considered that may enable a working environment for collaborative practice to be attained. However, this can only be achieved if the inner circles are breached and the territorial boundaries across the health care teams are broken down.
