The notions of 'care' and 'caring in nursing are not new. If you read textbooks from a century ago you will find the same discussions. Where we become confused is when we mix up providing care for and care to, with caring for. Traditionally 'care' was interchanged with 'service'. Today I hear students who believe they are caring nurses because they feel 'care' as an emotion. This unfortunately does not translate to the patient feeling they got 'care'. While nurses see themselves as 'caring', they forget to provide 'care'. I have seen the elderly woman just discharged from the hospital where the nurses see themselves as 'caring', but she did not get her teeth cleaned, her hair washed, not even a cloth to clean her hands before a meal for the entire two weeks she was in hospital. She did not experience 'care' in a world class teaching hospital where the nurses pride themselves on being 'caring'.

'Care' and 'caring' need to be made much clearer. What does it look like from the patient's view? How do these concepts become operational in practice? What do others see in the actions of the nurse that communicate 'caring'? Perhaps expanding the number of words we use to describe what we do can help to make it clearer for both ourselves and for others.

I love your question. History of nursing started with caring. Nursing was conceptualized because of caring shown by Florence Nightingale when she took care of the sick and the wounded during the Crimean War in 1954. Similarly in the Philippines nursing was conceptualized because of caring shown by women who took care of the sick and the wounded after the American occupation in 1906, Nursing is defined as science and art. Knowledge represents the science of nursing, and caring represents the art of nursing. Therefore caring is inherent in nursing. Caring made the existence of nursing profession. Technology will never displace caring. Even cure ends caring remains. According to Jean Watson, nurse theorist on human caring caring process begins by practicing loving-kindness and equanimity with ourselves and deepening self-awareness to be able to transfer and cultivate caring with others. Simone Roach described six C’s of caring: compassion, competence,confidence, conscience, commitment, comportment. I added 2 Cs - culture and courage. Culturally competent care should be provided. Nursing care is holistic. Courage to change and innovate through lifelong learning and research. The word CARE means C for caring, A for accountability, R for responsibility, E for endless caring and learning. Let our hands be guided not only by knowledge and skills but also by our hearts and spirits.

Utilise a theoretical framewor such as Caring Theory by Therese Meehan.

The notions of 'care' and 'caring in nursing are not new. If you read textbooks from a century ago you will find the same discussions. Where we become confused is when we mix up providing care for and care to, with caring for. Traditionally 'care' was interchanged with 'service'. Today I hear students who believe they are caring nurses because they feel 'care' as an emotion. This unfortunately does not translate to the patient feeling they got 'care'. While nurses see themselves as 'caring', they forget to provide 'care'. I have seen the elderly woman just discharged from the hospital where the nurses see themselves as 'caring', but she did not get her teeth cleaned, her hair washed, not even a cloth to clean her hands before a meal for the entire two weeks she was in hospital. She did not experience 'care' in a world class teaching hospital where the nurses pride themselves on being 'caring'.

'Care' and 'caring' need to be made much clearer. What does it look like from the patient's view? How do these concepts become operational in practice? What do others see in the actions of the nurse that communicate 'caring'? Perhaps expanding the number of words we use to describe what we do can help to make it clearer for both ourselves and for others.

Hi Elsabeth Jensen, You gave a very clear view of caring. That is wonderful share of thought. I fully agree with you.

Yes this is a significant aspect and we need to bring back a caring and compassionate nursing culture. Any suggestions as to how this can be achieved. I would like to pursue some research in this area. Any ideas.

Thanks guys for your impressive thoughts. Actually, at present, i am doing a research with regards to students' caring behavior as an outcome of instructor caring". Do you have any idea on what research design would fit for this study?and whats the best approach in conducting this research?

I can't suggest to you what kind of design without knowing the research question. You could easily do either quantitative or qualitative work in this area. If you are comparing attitudes, then I'm thinking a descriptive quasi experimental approach might work.

Caroline, I would argue we HAVE a caring and compassionate nursing culture now. While we will always have people in this profession who are just here for the paycheck, I am not convinced a lack of caring is an issue.

Rather, I think that increasing workload demands and responsibilities combined with increased RN to patient ratios in many parts of the country are affecting PERCEPTIONS of caring. After all, when you're exhausted and trying to do a million things at once, it is hard to spend the kind of time with patients they expect, or to quickly respond to requests or needs.

Thanks colleague for the enlightenment. I guess, from now on I can start my research. I have crafted a research on outcomes of caring in students, however, as a neophyte in the field of research, I am not that sure if I am on the right track of doing the research.

Like Elizabeth Jansen , I would suggest that you begin by finding what caring means to patients and then derive questions on caring for your research. To answer your question on teaching caring competencies to students , there is no better method than taking your student to the bedside of a conscious terminally ill cancer patient, or a young child and asking them to think on psycho social issues from a personal and family point of view. Help students to ask the correct questions to patients to understand their needs. Direct or guide students on actual ways like spending time while providing hygienic care or feeding such patients to communicate with patients and their family members. I hope I have answered your question to some extent.

The most reliable and valid method is the clinical observation for student performance, but you should not underestimate the benefit of other evaluation done during clinical simulation, or role play..etc