Jean Watson: a Caring Moment
Jean Watson: A Caring Moment
Christie M. Ishman RN
NUR/403 Theories and Models of Nursing Practice
April 4, 2011
Stephanie Merck, APRN, MS, CS
Background of theory
The caring theorist, Jean Watson, first developed her theory and published the philosophy and science of caring in 1979 (Current Nursing, 2011). She describes nursing as a process of caring not curing, and that it is effectively practiced and demonstrated interpersonally only. Her theory also “suggests that caring is a different way of being human, present, attentive, conscious, and intentional” (Wafika, Welmann, Omer, & Thomas, December 2009, p. 293). Watson believed that “caring is central to nursing and the unifying focus for [our] practice (Blais, Hayes, Kozier, & Erb, 2006, p. 107). She developed ten carative factors, the first three being philosophically based, around the main concepts of person, health, environment, and nursing.
My caring moment Whenever I think about nursing, caring and the fundamental reasons I became a nurse, I always think of “Gary.” I was in nursing school and working as a nurse’s aid in a nursing home. I tried daily to apply the new knowledge I was learning to my interactions with the residents. Gary was very tall, had suffered a stroke, and a total care resident who had limited use of his arms and legs, and unable to speak. He had crystal blue eyes that seemed to speak for him. Every time I took care of Gary I always talked to him like there was nothing wrong with him. He would smile and try to help me more than any other aids. One particular afternoon I was sitting at the nurses’ station and could not do any lifting because of an injury, Gary was sitting there in front of me. He started to tap his fingers intently staring at me with those eyes. I looked at him and said “Hi” to him. The nurses told him to stop the tapping as they seemed irritated by it. I touched his hand after the third request to stop, he just kept tapping. I was told to take him
Christie M. Ishman RN
NUR/403 Theories and Models of Nursing Practice
April 4, 2011
Stephanie Merck, APRN, MS, CS
Background of theory
The caring theorist, Jean Watson, first developed her theory and published the philosophy and science of caring in 1979 (Current Nursing, 2011). She describes nursing as a process of caring not curing, and that it is effectively practiced and demonstrated interpersonally only. Her theory also “suggests that caring is a different way of being human, present, attentive, conscious, and intentional” (Wafika, Welmann, Omer, & Thomas, December 2009, p. 293). Watson believed that “caring is central to nursing and the unifying focus for [our] practice (Blais, Hayes, Kozier, & Erb, 2006, p. 107). She developed ten carative factors, the first three being philosophically based, around the main concepts of person, health, environment, and nursing.
My caring moment Whenever I think about nursing, caring and the fundamental reasons I became a nurse, I always think of “Gary.” I was in nursing school and working as a nurse’s aid in a nursing home. I tried daily to apply the new knowledge I was learning to my interactions with the residents. Gary was very tall, had suffered a stroke, and a total care resident who had limited use of his arms and legs, and unable to speak. He had crystal blue eyes that seemed to speak for him. Every time I took care of Gary I always talked to him like there was nothing wrong with him. He would smile and try to help me more than any other aids. One particular afternoon I was sitting at the nurses’ station and could not do any lifting because of an injury, Gary was sitting there in front of me. He started to tap his fingers intently staring at me with those eyes. I looked at him and said “Hi” to him. The nurses told him to stop the tapping as they seemed irritated by it. I touched his hand after the third request to stop, he just kept tapping. I was told to take him
References: Alligood, M. R., (2010). Nursing theory: Utilization & application (4th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier Blais, K. K., Hayes, J. S., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. (2006).Professional Nursing Practice: Concepts and Perspectives (5th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Chitty, K., & Black, B PA: W. B. Saunders Current Nursing (2011) Suliman, W. A., Welmann, E., Omer, T., & Thomas, L. (December 2009). Applying Watson 's Nursing Theory to Assess Patient Perceptions of Being Cared for in a Multicultural Retrieved on March 30, 2011 from http://ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer Watson, J