Abstract: The author investigates the premises that form the basis of nursing practice in acute care. Assumptions about patients and caregiving are often at odds with each other. The origins of these tenets are mapped from Florence Nightingale through to present nursing theorists. Overlapping areas of nursing and medical care in the acute care setting are examined, and the conflict that can arise between traditional nursing care and the expected medical nursing role is examined. He argues that the challenge for acute care nurses is to find a balance between normative nursing and the medical model.
