i've heard conflicting things about what nurses actually do. i've heard that nurses do what doctors are depicted doing on shows like scrubs (are shows like hawthoRNe/nurse Jackie semi accurate depictions of hospital life minus the made for tv drama?), i've heard nurses have to wipe/change/cleanse people and i've also heard that its the CNAs/LPNs that do that. I can't seem to get a clear answer. i dont expect to hear that nurses diagnose diseases but I know they have to have some idea of whats going on. Why are the answers that I get so all over the board? Is it because nurses perform multiple varying tasks (like I assume-what I really wanna know is what those tasks are)? What does assessing the patient mean by the way? Can anyone help? ps. i put another poll on here hoping that if it was private i might get more replies.