Democratic Learning for Democratic Practice: Co-Operation and Deliberation

In this chapter we suggest that education for a critical understanding of democracy is central to the delivery of high-quality patient-centred care. Development of skills and knowledge which support change in practice can and must be brought into the classroom, offering opportunities for positive role modelling and real-time learning. Techniques by which such understandings can be cultivated will be explicitly referred to in the course of the chapter. For the purpose of highlighting these ideas and practices, we refer to selected initiatives focusing upon undergraduate nurse education concerned with professional support for service-user involvement in nursing practice; teaching leadership to registered nurses; and wider general initiatives which bring service-user involvement into practitioner learning in higher education. The exemplars are illustrative and do not claim to be the only examples of our focus on involvement and democracy across the three universities. They are, however, initiatives in which we have been substantially involved.