At what cost care?

This paper looks at the concept of care in nursing and considers the ever-changing focus relative to the meaning of the term care and how this care is delivered by nursing staff. In the process of looking at these issues it examines the theoretical and practical issues and how these factors have changed considerably over the last twenty-five years. This examination touches upon some of the intermingled and not mutually exclusive issues which surround care and caring such as technology, stress and burnout, bureaucracy, fiscal policy, the humanness of the nurse and the ever changing nature of care delivery. Many readers will be able to relate to the issues discussed and understand how some of these factors tend to get in the way of one another and affect good patient care and outcomes.