Sir, - The nurses' strike has engendered much comment on the role and function of nurses. The principal framework for exploring the nurse's role appears to be in relation to medicine and the work of doctors in particular. The public is being told of the growing technical demands that nurses contend with daily and this in turn is being used as a determinant of salary.
While nurses do engage in highly specialised technical skills, such as intravenous drug administration, it is important that we do not lose sight of the raison d'etre of nursing, which is caring and nurturing. Why is it so difficult to debate the value of nurses' contribution to society within a framework of caring? Is it because we can value work only when it is viewed as "real" work - i.e. done by men? If we are to avoid the demise of nursing as both an art (humanistic knowledge and skills) and a science (technical knowledge and skills), we need to explore the basis of the power relations that exist in Irish health care. - Yours, etc., Jean Clarke,
Lecturer, Co-ordinator, Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Dublin.