Study on analysis of the nurse's care within the hospital, emphasizing the understanding of theoretical assumptions inserted in the act of caring. Under this work, we present the nurses theoretical assumptions that may assist the act of taking care of mentally ill patients. This is a qualitative study. It was adopted the theoretic model "suggests the empathy" by Oliveira, to guide the discussions and the analysis of data. The themes that came from the discussions, guided the process analytical and reflective. The nurses agree and accept the assumptions of theoretical model of care "suggests empathy" by Oliveira and they believe these will help them with the care action of the nurses' psychiatrists. However the data show a gap between the capacity of acting efficiently in a real situation supported in theoretical and practical knowledge. There is a contradiction between what the nurses take as speech and what it really uses in practice in a hospital.
Nursing care; Psychiatric nursing; Nursing theory