Potter: Fundamentals of Nursing, 8th Edition

Chapter 07: Caring in Nursing Practice Key Points - Printable Caring is the heart of a nurses ability to work with people in a respectful and therapeutic way. Caring is specific and relational for each nurse-patient encounter. For caring to achieve cure, nurses need to learn the culturally specific behaviors and words that reflect human caring in different cultures. Because illness is the human experience of loss or dysfunction, any treatment or intervention given without consideration of its meaning to the individual is likely to be worthless. Caring involves a mutual give and take that develops as nurse and patient begin to know and care for one another. It is difficult to show caring to individuals without gaining an understanding of who they are and their perception of their illness. Presence involves a person-to-person encounter that conveys closeness and a sense of caring that involves being there and being with patients. Research shows that touch, both contact and noncontact, includes task-orientated touch, caring touch, and protective touch. The skillful and gentle performance of a nursing procedure conveys security and a sense of competence in the nurse. Listening is not only taking in what a patient says; it also includes interpreting and understanding what the patient is saying and giving back that understanding. Knowing the patient is at the core of the process that nurses use to make clinical decisions.