Professional predicaments: comparing the professionalisation projects of German and Italian nurses Available to Purchase

This article examines the similarities and differences in the professional and work organisation of nursing within two European countries: Italy and Germany. In principle both nursing systems could be expected to share much in common given they are both part of the European Community (EC). In practice the professional and work organisations are rather different. In Italy, the organised profession is currently being “promoted” from collegi to ordini, reflecting an upgrading of nurse education and training. Ordine (and collegi) are state‐sponsored mechanisms for professional registration, a system not to be found in Germany. Instead, German nurses through their professional organisations have been struggling to establish an autonomous role for themselves within the health service division of labour independent of the medical profession.