The aim of this study was to help construct a professional nursing care concept. The contributions are aimed at the professional dimension of the science of nursing. This is a qualitative study with a hermeneutic approach involving 20 nurses in semi-structured interviews submitted to content analysis. Professional care is conceptualized as caring for the lives of people who seek their services. Thus, the job of the nurse becomes a professional act and not an act of good intentions with the obligation of assuming care conduct, involving principles and standards established by the discipline. Nurses understand that knowledge requires continuous updating. The conceptualization of professional care based on practice offers an approach to the construction of the Science of Nursing.
Care; Concept formation; Nursing