Fifteen first-year nursing students individually took part in structured interviews in which a range of devices related to nursing practice and fluid physics was considered. Analysis of the transcripts of these interviews revealed that although respondents had already completed the section of their course related to fluid physics, the majority still exhibited inconsistent and naive ideas about the fluid state, pressure and fluid flow. After structured intervention however, some responses in the latter portion of the interviews gave evidence of conceptual development and an increasing ability to generalise physical principles in contexts not previously encountered.