Defining nursing is a tough one I am not sure about the

Defining nursing is a tough one, I am not sure about the ins and outs of it yet. But I will write what I think of it for now. This should make for some good laughs when I read it back at the end of the semester. It is about caring for people. I guess I see it as a job where you have to give of yourself physically, and by physically, I mean doing things like making beds, which also means being physically drained, but I guess it is all worth it at end as long as I get to live and practice my long time passion, which is exactly what nursing means to me. I see nurses as being privileged in a way, I mean they shared some of their very intimate moments with people they don’t often know, births and deaths, all this is not to say I have romanticized the whole occupation. Although, I do realize I going to have to wipe people’s bums too, but I’ll try to incorporate some of what we have learnt this semester into this definition. All of this is underlined with the premise that the role of the nurse is to guide patients on the path to wellness. Not simply cure their illness, but also helping them with their basic needs. I really enjoyed the reading on wellness, and I am pleased to see that this program is helping me understand life and how the body system functions. Last year I did a project on Midwifery from 1500 to 1700. Some of the ancient writing now only on microfilm is just fantastic. Some of the things they did in the name of nursing and improving quality of life with good care, using the Maslow chart. I have been a believer in the wellness idea for a long time, I see nursing as a craft, an art and a vocation and very mysterious. We discussed this today in class, that nursing is not an exact science, that caring can be learnt and so does my former roommate from Bellarmine who didn’t agree, and thereby caused the rowdy discussion! I believe that caring is an umbrella term that is used to describe a number of qualities that some people show. Although it is not an emotion, it is similar in that it is not tangible. It is not like a chair or a table. You cannot touch it. You only know caring exists if you experience it. I guess caring means different things to different people.