The occupation of nursing in Germany has an image that still today is shaped by Christian traditions of care. Numerous long-standing concepts of nursing – from terminal care to outpatient community nursing and holistic care – are currently the subject of much debate. Using the example of protestant deaconesses, the volume illustrates how these concepts are put into practice. The activities of the nurses, their experiences and the sense of purpose they give to their everyday work and life context are analysed. The book also sheds light on the conflicts that arise from the application of rational principles to the care of individual patients. An understanding of nursing seen within an historical context thus serves to reveal the contradictions in the current modernisation of care.weiterlesen