Caring: the raison d'etre of the professional nurse.

There is a belief in society that nursing is a profession and therefore that nurses are professional. There is also a belief that nurses care, that is, they care for their patients and consequently are a caring profession. However, we see and hear instances in which nurses do not act in a caring manner. Where this is the case, can they still be considered individually a professional, and collectively a profession? Is there a connection between caring and profession? Can a nurse be one without the other? The assertion of this paper, is that to be a professional nurse, a nurse must care. "Caring" and "profession" are defined and the components for a model of a professional relationship proposed. Nurses are challenged to find ways in which to reclaim their professional status by recapturing their commitment to caring.