[The concept of nursing as a basis for the practice of care. 1]

The understanding of nursing can be seen as a basis for practising care and as a potential for its evolution. This survey aims at analysing registered nurses understanding of care. Using a qualitative approach seventeen nurses were interviewed. The author used 50 picture cards as a help for the interviewees to express their ideas in a narrative interview. Using a semi-structured interview the ideas were examined in more depth. The findings are described in the second part of this article.