Theoretical basis of the category of "care" in nursing

Introduction. Scientific discipline, which has aspirations of being recognised as a science through the
activities of people who practise it, tends towards the verification of the basic terminology. The terms
falling within the basic caring occupations, including nursing, are: care, nursing care and caring.

Aim. The objective of the study is the presentation of the results of theoretical analysis of the following
terms: care, nursing care, and caring in nursing.

Material and methods. The analysis of concepts according to the principles of scientific usefulness
which allows the determination of the defining characteristics of concepts in accordance with the criteria
of specificity and distinctiveness.

Results. Nursing care is the basic way of showing respect to another person and consists in fulfilling the
patients’ needs which are derive from the state of life and/or health risk and are realized in caring
relationship based on compensative, moral and legal nurse’ responsibility.

Conclusions. Caring as a phenomenon of nursing care affects the understanding of the relationship
between the elements of the structure of care in the theory and practice of nursing.