[Nursing in the 18th century. The Santa Creu Hospital in Barcelona]. / Enfermería en el siglo XVIII. El hospital de Santa Creu de Barcelona.

Continuing a study regarding the development of nursing at the Santa Creu Hospital in Barcelona, the authors use the hospital history, Constitutions, edited in 1756, to show how nursing care was originally dispensed mostly by the Pares y Mares (Fathers and Mothers), lay persons who received this name to indicate the natural relationship established between the sick and themselves. Despite the possible moral value they contributed, the quality of health care was probably not very high, and the various religious orders that were destined to fill the health care vacuum did not begin to appear until the end of the century.