Contemp Nurse
-
This paper follows an earlier paper presented in this journal where the scope ofj practice of Enrolled Nurses (EN) was critically reviewed from the available literature on this topic. In this paper the authors (Milson-Hawke & Higgins, 2003) recommended the need for research into the scope of practice of ENs. The purpose of the paper presented here is to describe the outcomes of a grounded theory study that explored the nature of EN practice within an acute hospital setting and the processes that ENs used to guide their practice. ⋯ Essentially, the ENs in this study determined their own scope of practice as they undertook nursing activities beyond their level of preparation. The impact of the care provided by ENs, however, was not within the scope of this small study. This needs to be the focus of future studies along with the impact on health care of the changing roles of ENs.