caring is the essence of nursing

The Inseparable Link of Nursing and Caring

Caring is a human instinct . Especially with people that are close to our hearts , people would not hesitate to care for their general well-being More so , people whose duty is in the service sector , they are more enjoined to care for their customers . This is why caring ' is both a duty and a responsibility to people involved in the health care profession . As defined by Mosby 's Medical , Nursing and Allied Health Dictionary (2002 , caring means the actions characteristic of concern for the well-being , such

as sensitivity , comforting , attentive listening , and honesty for the patient

One of the frequent reminders offered to health care professionals is that patients are people . This is not because health care professionals do not know this or , worse , do not care about the status of their patients . It is simply that in the cut and thrust of decision making in relation to the clinical management of a patient 's condition the human side of health care can be overshadowed by its technical aspects

No doubt , to become a successful nurse , one must not only learn to deal with their patients as clients , caring for them is important to assure their recovery from any maladies . Since the days of Florence Nightingale , there has been a direct link between nursing and service to others (Kearney , 2001 . When a child is asked why they want to become a doctor or a nurse , they often respond , To help other people . This response partially defines caring because caring cannot occur if others are not involved . Caring requires a recipient

Several theorists have developed conceptual models based on caring . One of them is Dorthea Orem , who developed the Self-Care Deficit Model (1995 . Orem believed that all individuals desire to care for and meet their personal care needs and that each person has varied abilities to participate in meeting his personal self-care needs . The nurse attempts to meet the client 's self-care needs in an effort to reduce the client 's self-care deficits . On the other hand , Watson (1999 ) believed that caring is a moral ideal and that nursing is a caring art and science The client is the center of human caring . Finally , Leininger (2001 purported that nursing is a learned art focused on caring in accord with an individual 's culture . To these theorists , caring definitely is a vital component of nursing

Moreover , Bertero (1999 ) deemed that caring includes all aspects of delivering nursing care to patients (p . 414 . Thus , caring is the essence and the unifying core of nursing . In her book , Leininger proposed that caring is the trademark of nursing practice : Care is the essence and the central unifying and dominant domain to characterize nursing . Care has also been postulated to be an essential human need for the full development , health maintenance , and survival of human beings in all world cultures (1988 ,

. 3 . These statements imply that caring is both the duty and responsibility of all nurses as members of...