ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2 practice development was defined thus: ‘Development [is] work directed towards introducing an innovation or the improvement of a service or process, often based on the findings of research’ (NHS Executive, 1998:6). Practice development in community nursing is, therefore, essentially about bringing about change in some aspect of the service provided by community nurses. The impact of that change should be felt potentially by any or all of the following: patients and other service users, carers, staff, other social and health care organizations. The collection of information to assess the impact of the innovation or change provides the evaluation of the practice development initiative.
