Is there a place for care" within nursing?"

This paper explores the assumption that care and nursing are both interchangeable and symbiotic concepts, and argues through exploration of the literature on the nature of care, its relationship to nursing, the socialisation process, and the personal human difficulties nurses experience when carrying out their daily role, that this assumption needs serious reconsideration. This has major implications for the nursing profession when attempting to define its roles and boundaries, as current views appear inconsistent with each other and in conflict with the actual process of nursing, and need to be resolved to reflect the actual practice of nursing and work of the nurse. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.