Does nurses' vulnerability affect their ability to care?

Recent reports from the Department of Health (2008), the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (2011) and the Commission on Dignity in Care for Older People (2012) have been highly critical regarding the care that some patients have experienced. They have highlighted that fundamental aspects of care are missing resulting in a lack of high quality individualised nursing care, which is in contrast with holistic nursing philosophy. We have to ask ourselves what is happening within nursing, as many enter the profession owing to a desire to 'make a difference'. Drawing on focus group data exploring perceptions of caring for residents with dementia in a care home setting, the authors found that nurses and healthcare assistants experience a mutual vulnerability with patients. This paper explores whether this mutual vulnerability could lead to nurses focusing on the clinical aspects of their role to the detriment of the compassionate, caring components of nursing.