Caring and nursing: a dilemma.

The history of caring is intertwined with the history of women and thus with nursing. Although nurses have a professional mandate to provide care, the significance, meaning and function of care and caring remains undefined and intangible within nursing. Many factors contribute to dilemma that requires the professional responsibility to care while withholding recognition from those who provide such care. Caring is often hailed as the hallmark of nursing. This paper considers some of the questions and permutations related to the concept of caring in nursing.