Running head: CARING IN NURSING

Caring in Nursing
Juley Cole
Dixie State University

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Caring in Nursing

Caring should be an innate attribute of every nurse. The value of caring in nursing was
brought to the forefront by Jean Watson a nursing theorist. Watson believes that caring is an
essential component of a healing environment and represents the essence of nursing (Gillespie,
Hounchell, Pettinichi, Mattei, & Rose, 2012, p. 3). When a person cares for someone whether it
is a patient or a loved one, they are showing true compassion and concern for that individual. In
the medical field, it is essential to place value in the principle of caring when planning and
interacting with every patient. Through a personal example it is easy to reaffirm how a patients
caring environment is directly correlated to their comfort and healing.
An Example of Caring
I have a son Quintin, who was born with hemiplegia cerebral palsy. He has had his fair
share of nurses and doctors over the years. Sometimes he and I even joke about the bad nurses
but, it is the nurses that have shown genuine care and concern for my son that have made lasting
impressions on the both of us. Last year Quintins surgeries were two of the toughest surgeries to
date. The surgeries were complex and the older Quintin became the harder it became for him to
go willingly to his surgeries. His anxiety increased and his fear of the pain intensified. The
biggest fear of Quintins was the anesthesiologist putting the oxygen mask on his face. It made
Quintin feel like he was suffocating.
The first surgery he was scheduled to undergo was a tendon lengthening in his left foot.
He arrived the day of surgery and his sweet nurse came and introduced herself as Nurse Amanda.
She was sweet, bubbly, and cheerful. She spoke to Quintin directly and asked him what he
thought about surgery and if he had any questions. Quintin told Amanda how scared he was to
have the mask put on his face to go to sleep. Amanda quickly jumped up and grabbed a blue box

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from behind the nurses station. She said Quintin try out every flavor of masks that I have and
you choose what you would like! (Personal conversation with Amanda Taylor on November 11,
2012). He smiled and sniffed every mask she had until he felt comfortable with them on his face.
Quintin finally chose a bubble gum mask. He carried that mask down the hall and walked right
into the operating room. He even brought the mask home.
Then two months later, Quintin was scheduled for a tendon lengthening and revision in
his left arm. He again went through all the same feelings and emotions. I reassured him that he
could pick out his mask again and everything would be ok. We arrived right on time and our
nurse called us back to the preoperative area. She was frazzled and was not much for small talk.
Neither Quintin nor I could even remember her name. Quintin asked her about the blue box and
she offered video games instead. As time passed I could see the nervousness start to build inside
Quintin. Then the nurse came over and told us it was time to go back and Quintin panicked. In
that moment my heart ached for him. I wanted to fix the problem no matter how insignificant it
seemed to the nurse. Even though Quintin had already been wheeled half way down the hall, I
pleaded with her to stop and let him chose a mask. I had to beg her to listen to Quintin and
address his concerns and fears. I thought to myself, does she even care about Quintin?
Caring In Nursing
In these two examples, it is clear that caring can make or break a patients overall
perception and general wellbeing of their health and stay at the hospital. In a study done in
Nigeria, it was found that pediatric patients such as Quintin, perceived caring nurses as ones
whom were cheerful and gentle (Stella, Ayobola, Elizabeth, & Kikelomo, 2014, p. 1).
Furthermore, most of the Nigerian hospitals revealed that nurses most of the time are so busy
with procedural activities that they tend to forget that the patients and not the procedures should

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be the focus of nursing care (Stella et al., 2014, p. 2). This was found to be the situation with
Quintins last surgical experience.
Philosophy in Nursing
The theorist Jean Watson provides nurses with guidelines on how to provide care for
all patients. Watsons theory is based on the importance of caring and how the act of caring aids
in the healing of a patient. Watson laid out a foundation which she refers to as the Ten Caratives.
These Ten Caratives include: the formation of a humanistic values, the installation of faith-hope,
the cultivation of sensitivity to ones self and to others, the development of a helping-trust
relationship, the promotion and acceptance of the expression of positive and negative feelings,
the systematic use of the scientific problem-solving method for decision making, the promotion
of interpersonal teaching-learning, the provision for a supportive and safe environment,
assistance with the gratification of human needs, and the allowance for existentialphenomenological forces (Carson, 2002, p. 2).
In the caring example of Quintins second nurse, it was clear that Nurse Amanda applied
Watsons Caratives. She clearly demonstrated sensitivity towards Quintins feelings and
emotions which lead to a trusting relationship between Quintin and her. By developing this type
of relationship, Quintin valued his nurses requests and instructions. This leads to not only
patient health but health of the nurse as well. This generates an easier job for the nurse by
creating less work and providing the most successful outcome for patient and nurse, which is the
number one goal for nurses. Furthermore, each nurse must be concerned about their health care
needs. If the nurse does not take care of these needs, she/he will not be able to provide the care
needed. The nurse must refill her/his cup by making their own health a top priority. .
Conclusion

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In Quintins example it was clear to see the validity of Watsons theory of caring in
nursing. One nurse genuinely cared about him versus a nurse who cared more about being task
oriented. Caring by his first nurse established a trust between Quintin and his nurse. This
established a foundation for his healing environment. Therefore, each time a nurse has an
interaction with a patient it should be in a caring and concerning manner to provide the best
possible outcome for the patient.

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References

Carson, E. M. (2002). A comparison of evidence of Watsons carative factors in performance

appraisals for medical surgical registered nurses in the state of Illinois (Doctoral
dissertation). Available from ProQuest.
Gillespie, G. L., Hounchell, M., Pettinichi, J., Mattei, J., & Rose, L. (2012). Caring in pediatric
emergency nursing (Masters thesis). Available from ProQuest. (23156209)
Stella, A. C., Ayobola, O. A., Elizabeth, O. O., & Kikelomo, A. E. (2014). Paediatric patients and
primary care givers perception of nurse-Caring behaviour in south western Nigeria
(Masters thesis). Available from ProQuest.