ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the need concept as it relates to nursing care. The concept of need for nursing care can also be relative to a patient's own experiences and perceptions. The chapter discusses Soran Reader's two claims related to central features of the needs concept. The first feature regards the claim that needs is objective and therefore non-intentional. The second claim for discussion is that needs statements are bi-directional. According to Reader, needs statements specify the helping action by highlighting two issues. First, a needs statement emphasises that which the person in need lacks or is in imminent risk of lacking. Second, as when finding 'the missing piece', a needs statement points towards what should be done to restore that which is lacking. The chapter also discusses two normative features of needs, both of which pertain to what could be termed a normativity of presence.
