Der Pflegeprozess - Zu einer ökonomisierten 'Profession Pflege'

The nursing process is understood as a key element of professional nursing care in Germany and is defined as a reserved activity for nurses under to the current Nursing Act. The nursing process was introduced into the West German nursing debate in the 1970s through a mid-term WHO program. This occurred at a time when the financing of inpatient healthcare was being problematized under the terms ‘cost explosion’ and ‘cost containment.’ At the same time, nursing itself underwent significant transformations in West Germany. Previously understood as a Christian-based vocation, nursing evolved from the 1960s onwards into a more clearly defined occupational field, influenced by rationalization and economization. These changes are understood today as the beginning of the professionalization of nursing. This article analyzes these transformations in nursing from the 1960s to the 1980s. It examines the extent to which the nursing process, with its cybernetic logic, connects the opposing processes of economization and the professionalization of nursing. Additionally, it critically explores whether the nursing process, through the loss of nursing autonomy, has instead led to a deprofessionalization of nursing.