Professionalization and Work Intensification

Abstract

This article examines the reorganization of nursing work during the cost containment era. In recent decades, the division of labor on hospital wards has been reversed through task reunification, a process promoted by nursing leaders as professional upgrading. The article argues that this change overcomes prior work difficulties yet contradicts theories of professionalization and serves managerial interests. Observations on hospital wards reveal that, although RNs are not “technically proletarianized,” reunified tasks and unmediated relations with patients intensify work, forcing RNs to limit an overextended work jurisdiction at the same time that the flattening of the nursing hierarchy increases their accountability.