First published in 1991. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This work deals with the pressures experienced by nurses caring for patients with a wide range of problems and needs. Two particular situations that nurses face are covered - the terminally ill patient and the acute patient, where the first will die and the second will eventually recover. The book poses the question Are there differences in the way that nurses care for the living and the dying? and Do the disparate needs of these two groups result in role conflict for the nurses who care for them?