The act of caring means to show compassion, empathy and patience no matter what race, gender, culture and age. There are many ways that people can show care for others, whether be it your loved ones or strangers. In this essay, I will discuss my personal story of caring that comes from my experience. Then, I will explain on how you can show care by implementing Jean Watson’s caring science. Following that, I will discuss on the concept of caring related to standards of practices.
I believe the term, ‘caring’ embodies a lot more values. It involves trust, respect, patience, and compassion. I have a grandfather who is 97 years old. Unfortunately, he has some mobility impairment due to old age. It prevents him from doing the majority of the things that require the usage of strength, such as walking, which he needs the aid of someone or even lifting his hand. And he lives in a rural area, so assisted device is not even an option because the ground is not smooth. Honestly, he has a lot of hurdles to overcome which makes him feel incapable, frustrated and lonely. Whenever I visited his place, I would try to help him with whatever I could do for him through the tough times. For example, cooking and feeding him, assisting him to walk outside to get fresh air instead of being locked up inside and to just make him feel relaxed and content. I would then accompany him and talk about our day.
Even communicating is not that simple for us as he has hearing difficulty so I would have to sometimes repeat this same sentence a couple of times and speak louder. The other way I show care is by interacting. Communication helps individuals release stress and pent-up frustration by just listening to what they have to say. When I was working in a hospital for a placement as a student nurse, I would walk around the ward patient by patient, introduce myself and enquire about how they are doing and if they need anything. There was a patient, who was going for a surgery. She looked anxious and so I asked her if there is anything, I can help with to relieve the stress or to simply talk, let out all her worries or doubts and if she has any questions. I tried to relax her by assuring that the surgery would be successful, and she can trust in the doctor’s capability.As a nurse, we spend a lot of time with the clients, so it is important for nurses to know their patient well and what is best for them. Nurses should observe and engage in a conversation with the patient and family member to gain some personal knowledge of the person which is key in the caring relationship between the nurse and person (Berman, Snyder, Levett-Jonas, Burton, Harvey, 2017).
And by being present is a way of promising availability, especially in the times of need (Berman, Snyder, Levett-Jonas, Burton, Harvey, 2017). Nurses should create a healing environment which enables beliefs, spiritual practices and expression of feelings. Samueli Institute defines healing as a holistic, transformative process for restoration of mind, body, and sprit, which produces positive change (Sakallaris, MacAllister, Voss, Smith & Jonas, 2015). Providing transpersonal care to the person enables nurses to connect and understand the person emotionally and spiritually which are important for the healing process of the patient.A nurse can demonstrate care by applying the person-centered care approach in the way that they focus on the individual’s needs, wants and preferences. One of the nursing standards for practice is for registered nurses to conduct a holistic as well as culturally appropriate systematic assessment (Registered nurse standards of practice [NMBA],2015, Standard 4).
The Institute of Medicine has defined person centered care as one of the key component of quality health care as it provide care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring the patient values guide all clinical decisions (Santana, Manalili, Jolley, Zelinsky, Quan & Lu, 2018). There are many different aspects of person-centered care approach. One of the ways nurses can display care is by knowing the individual as a whole person rather than focusing on an illness or disabilities which is crucial to delivering ‘individualized care’ (Godfrey, Young, Shannon, 2018). To provide individualized care, it is essential for nurses to establish a therapeutic and professional relationships with the patient. A therapeutic nurse-patient relationship is a helping relationship that nurses provide to support the patient’s health and well-being and is developed based on the nurse’s ability to make the patient feel compassionately cared for and accepted (Pullen, Mathias, 2010). It is essential for the patient to participate in all their decision making, healthcare planning and goal setting. Studies have shown that patient participation in healthcare decision making empowers patients and improve services and health outcomes (Vahdat, Hamzehgardeshi, Hessam & Hamezehgardeshi, 2014).
During the decision-making process, talk and listen to the issues of the individual, plan with the person and discover the best solution that best works for the patient, their families and the professionals. It is important to take the person’s value, beliefs, preference, and family situations of the person when providing information and think things from the person’s point of perspective. It is also critical to provide a safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice (Registered nurse standards of practice [NMBA],2016, Standard 6). The best evidence to evaluate and promote decisions in the development of nursing plans should be used so that safe and effective procedures and outcomes are achieved according to the individual nursing requirement.
To accomplish the required objective successfully, nurses need to have expertise, skills, and experience and practices within their scope of practices (Registered nurse standards of practice [NMBA], 2016).In conclusion, there are numerous barriers with regards to caring for someone who has different beliefs, values, and culture. But when you truly respect and take care of someone as a person, it pushes you to give your best in helping them achieve their goals. Demonstrating care towards one another allows us to develop a successful professional relationship and maintain them. Furthermore, it enables us to be mutually understanding. Implementing Jean Watson’s concept of caring into nursing practice helps to provide compassion and to encourage healing for both patient and family. If the nurses construct the fundamental relation and trust with the patient, positive patient outcomes can be achieved. The best strategy to provide secure and effective health care to everyone is to deliver solutions based on the scientific information and top practices and care that is respectful and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values.
Reference:
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