Nursing is typically understood, and understands itself, as a care-giving occupation. It is through its relationships with patients - whether these are absent, present, good, bad or indifferent - that modern day nursing is defined. Yet nursing work extends far beyond direct patient care activities. Across the spectrum of locales in which they are employed, nurses, in numerous ways, support and sustain the delivery and organisation of health services. In recent history, however, this wider work has generally been regarded as at best an adjunct to the core nursing function, and at worse...