ABSTRACT
Aspects of caring and coping are inseparable in at least one important respect; that strategies for coping are often also ways of managing care and vice versa. The idea of paternalism of knowing what is best for recipients of health care, is broadly inconsistent with the notion of individualised care. Nurses are, and feel, more easily accountable for the physical care they give than the psychological care they may be able to provide. An increasing literature details the low priority given by nurses to psychological care of patients. Carl May analyses staff nurses' attempts to 'know about' their patients and the problems which arise in so doing. Acknowledging a theoretical allegiance to Michel Foucault, May attempts to show how nurses did their best to ameliorate the negative effects of reductive medical knowledge. Rachel seems to feel that much of the legitimation for 'stepping in' arises from patients' expectations of the nurse patient relationship.
