Customarily patient advocacy is argued to be an essential part of nursing, and this is reinforced in contemporary nursing codes of conduct, as well as codes of ethics and competency standards governing practice. However, the role of the nurse as an advocate is not clearly understood. Autonomy is a key concept in understanding advocacy, but traditional views of individual autonomy can be argued as being outdated and misguided in nursing. Instead, the feminist perspective of relational autonomy is arguably more relevant within the context of advocacy and nurses' work in clinical healthcare settings. This article serves to highlight and problematise some of the assumptions and influences around the perceived role of the nurse as an advocate for patients in contemporary Western healthcare systems by focusing on key assumptions concerning autonomy inherent in the role of the advocate.

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Nursing professionals in a variety of practice settings routinely use implied consent. This form of consent is used in place of or in conjunction with informed or explicit consent. This article looks at one aspect of a qualitative exploratory study conducted in a Day of Surgery Admission unit. This article focuses on the examination of nurses' understandings of implied consent and its use in patient care in nursing practice. Data were collected through one-on-one interviews and analysed using a thematic analysis. Nurses participating in this study revealed that they routinely used implied consent in their nursing practice. This article will look at whether implied consent supports or impedes a patient's autonomy.

This research has illuminated that an ill-defined repertoire of skills was used by RNs when assessing older persons. Skills identified appeared to be based on years of personal-professional experience. Differences were noted between the descriptions nurses gave and what was observed during interactions with older persons.

One of the most basic understandings of nursing is that a nurse is a caregiver for a patient who helps to prevent illness, treat health conditions, and manage the physical needs of patients. Nursing is often presented as a caring profession, which provides patient care driven by ideals of empathy, compassion and kindness. These ideals of care have further been foregrounded through the development and implementation of stress on patient centred care (PCC) and/or person-centred practice (PCP). Although the idealisation of nursing as a caring profession is common, and one certainly seen as integral by nurses and written into the heart of regulatory documentation, we contend that the actual delivery of care is being undercut by the very regulatory climate that strives to professionalise care. As we outline, with specific reference to the context of Australian Nursing, this transformation delivers a commodified, even McDonaldized, model of patient management rather than care. It seems that even with its explicit stress on PCC and PCP, Australian Nursing cannot live up to its own care ideals. Having outlined this problem, the paper then demonstrates the ways in which PCC is thwarted at the coal face of nursing practice and that there must be an institutionalised change to be able to provide genuine patient-centred care.care, duty of care, patient centred care, person centred practice, professionalisation | INTRODUCTIONOne of the most basic understandings of nursing is that a nurse is a caregiver for patients and in that role helps to prevent illness, treat health conditions and manage the physical needs of patients. Nursing is indeed often presented as a caring profession, with patient care driven by ideals of empathy, compassion and kindness. Nightingale, for example, conceptualised nursing as alleviating suffering through acts of compassion (Kaplan et al., 2016;Mascaro et al., 2015;Straughair, 2012aStraughair, , 2012b, but also aligned it with such moral virtues as kindness, compassion and competence (Bradshaw, 2011;Zulueta, 2013). Indeed, it is often highlighted that nurses should be empathetic, compassionate, kind and trustworthy (Alicea-Planas, 2016;McKeown et al., 2014;Pacquiao, 2008). Given this focus, it is unsurprising that the concept of care is often revered for its relational, emotional and feminine qualities (Bradshaw, 2009). Such a focus is further stressed in the development and implementation of stress on patient centred care (PCC) and/or person-centred practice (PCP).Although this kind of idealisation of nursing as a caring profession is common, and one certainly still seen as integral by Nursing Inquiry.