[The homeless in emergency services: their contacts with nurses]

This research paper is based on the homeless, as representatives of extreme poverty but also as clients of public hospitals: how far does the rising number of homeless people in the hospital emergency departments pose a problem to the nurses? An epidemiological survey carried out in the emergency departments of Toulouse-Purpan, goes in search of the features of the homeless people. The problematics of this essay is situated at the interface of the three elements dealt with in the original questioning: the homeless, the nurses and the University Hospital. The hypothesis is the following: "The rising number of homeless people welcomed in the emergency departments of the university hospitals is revealing of the tensions to which the nurses are subjected, torn as they are between the specificity of the request, the assignments of the emergency departments and the professional values and skills". Tensions to which the nurses are subjected are identified thanks to the analysis of their speech, on the basis of their perceptions and the image they have of the homeless. These perceptions are interpreted as portent of certain types of practices: dominated by rejection, denial, extreme rationality, questioning, motherly practices.