Pract. Dev. Health Care 8(4) 186–199, 2009 Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DOI: 10.1002/pdh 186 Innovations in practice Exploring the process of becoming and working as a practice development unit Lucy Bray—Senior Research Fellow, Evidence-based Practice Research Centre, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, and Children’s Nursing Research Unit, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK Dr Jeremy Brown—Senior Lecturer, Evidence-based Practice Research Centre, Faculty of Health, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK Trish Prescott—Senior Lecturer, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK Charlotte Moen—Senior Lecturer, Continuing Professional Development, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore the perspective of multidisciplinary staff on the process of becom- ing and working as a practice development unit (PDU). PDUs are reported as positive initia- tives within health care. It is important to understand the process of becoming a PDU and the ongoing effects of the process to the staff working within the unit. This project engaged with multidisciplinary staff working on six PDU units throughout the north-west of England. Data collection was in two phases: a self-completion questionnaire distributed to all staff within the PDUs (n = 625, 28.2% response rate) followed by 17 semi-structured telephone interviews. The majority of questionnaire respondents (n = 114, 64%) indicated that they would recommend PDU accreditation to other units. The main themes arising from the project focus on accreditation having a positive influence on multidisciplinary team working, evidence-based practice and improving opportunities for professional development. Issues were raised during the interviews regarding the increased development of staff leading to high turnover, the high workload involved in leading the accreditation and the inequitable involve- ment of professions in the process. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: accreditation, multidisciplinary, practice development, research Practice Development in Health Care Pract. Dev. Health Care 8(4) 186–199, 2009 Published online 10 November 2009 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/pdh.294