Nurses work long hours, deal with difficult patients, and their job gets messy. So why do so many men and women enter the profession?

That question is answered in Nursing Is Caring, which highlights the experiences of Beverly Wheeler's former students at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas School of Nursing.

The students were asked to write a short paper about a patient they had taken care of since entering nursing school who had inspired them and made them realize they were in the right profession.

Their essays show that while people...