Exploring the Importance of Caring in Nursing
Foundations of Health and Social Care
Amanda Reddin
Word count = 2182
In this essay I am going to show the importance of caring in nursing, and how it promotes high standards of care. Caring can be described in many ways, such as showing empathy, compassion and respect. Most caring theories incorporate all of these qualities. Every patient has complex individual needs and each patient interprets high standards in a different way.
As a student nurse I am privileged to be in a position to care for a person when they are often at their most vulnerable and in need of the most help and protection. This responsibility can be overwhelming, and at times a nurse’s life can be filled with sadness and a feeling of being powerless. Often people die and this leaves a footprint in your memory forever. This burden is one I feel you have to choose to bare; you have to make a connection with a patient and share a moment in life together to deliver person-centred care.
Person-centred care is the central philosophy, the foundation for the responsibilities and functions of nursing; focusing on the person with an illness not the disease the person has (RCN, 2003). I have heard other nurses say that they get used to death and dying and feel nothing for the person who has died. I am told I will become indifferent to death in a few years as well. I have worked in the caring profession for twenty years and have cared for many dying people, I can remember each person and acknowledge that this event has a contribution to who I am and the nurse I will become. This burnout is not caused by delivering compassionate care but by working with no personal satisfaction for the work you do, and attending to tasks rather than people (Accad, 2011;Youngson, 2009). Creating a connection with someone and knowing that you have made a positive difference in that person’s life determines your ability to function as a nurse.
This belief is core to
Amanda Reddin
Word count = 2182
In this essay I am going to show the importance of caring in nursing, and how it promotes high standards of care. Caring can be described in many ways, such as showing empathy, compassion and respect. Most caring theories incorporate all of these qualities. Every patient has complex individual needs and each patient interprets high standards in a different way.
As a student nurse I am privileged to be in a position to care for a person when they are often at their most vulnerable and in need of the most help and protection. This responsibility can be overwhelming, and at times a nurse’s life can be filled with sadness and a feeling of being powerless. Often people die and this leaves a footprint in your memory forever. This burden is one I feel you have to choose to bare; you have to make a connection with a patient and share a moment in life together to deliver person-centred care.
Person-centred care is the central philosophy, the foundation for the responsibilities and functions of nursing; focusing on the person with an illness not the disease the person has (RCN, 2003). I have heard other nurses say that they get used to death and dying and feel nothing for the person who has died. I am told I will become indifferent to death in a few years as well. I have worked in the caring profession for twenty years and have cared for many dying people, I can remember each person and acknowledge that this event has a contribution to who I am and the nurse I will become. This burnout is not caused by delivering compassionate care but by working with no personal satisfaction for the work you do, and attending to tasks rather than people (Accad, 2011;Youngson, 2009). Creating a connection with someone and knowing that you have made a positive difference in that person’s life determines your ability to function as a nurse.
This belief is core to
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