Much has to be done within nursing practice, education and research on the part of nurse leaders to bridge the gap between nurses' and clients' perspectives on caring. The public creates its perceptions of professional activities when coming in contact with nursing in the clinical setting. It is the staff nurses who care for the client on a 24-hour basis and who therefore communicate who nurses are and what caring services they offer. It is the responsibility of nursing leadership to educate nurses about their caring role in the health care deliver system. Because clinical nurses have both the potentiality and the power to actively contribute to the patients' understanding of professional caring, nurse leaders should use this power rather than underestimate it. It is important that certified and uncertified nursing personnel have distinct areas of caring services in the working environment (Barnum, 1998). Research findings indicate that advanced prepared nurses need to be differentiated from auxiliary health care personnel in caring activities if a professional image of competence is to be projected (Magnum, Garrison, Lind & Hilton, 1997). Furthermore, nurse leaders should find ways to free nurses from subsidiary work and distribute their time more efficiently in holistic caring related activities (Joel, 1997; Lemonidou et al., 1996).

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