Unlike many occupations medicine and nursing are primarily and historically vocational professions. A wish to comfort, relieve pain and hopefully to cure other human beings who are ill should be the essential motivation to pursue these professions. Social status, remuneration and political bureaucratic compliance are of secondary importance. Both professions have traditionally been held in high regard by the public, but changes associated with advances in understanding disease processes and technological innovations have altered the nature of both medicine and nursing.
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