The ‘Back to the Basics’ movement: Return to the past or sign of a ‘mature’ nursing?

In recent times, a growing interest is emerging to re-focus the attention on basic nursing care both at the international levels with the "Fundamentals of nursing care" movement, and at the national levels. Alongside some formal position statements in the form of policies or scientific contributions, also in day-to-day experience, several nurses are debating why basic nursing care is getting out of nurses' domain, why this element of nursing care is under-recognised in its value, or why this reflects an area at risk of decreased professional engagement. Our contribution outlines some reasons for the progressive detachment of nurses from the basics of nursing care and debates on possible areas on which to invest to re-bring the Fundamentals of Nursing Care as a priority in the daily agenda of practice, education, management and research.