Caring in Nursing | Reading

Caring in Nursing
Reading
Henderson, A., Van Eps, M., Pearson, K., James, C., & Henderson, P. (2007).
Caring for behaviours that indicate to patients that nurses 'care about'.
Journal
of Advanced Nursing 60(2), 146–153. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04382.x
1. Having read the article above, reflect on an aspect of 'caring for' or 'caring
about' that has resonated with you. What new information have you learned and
how has it impacted on your understanding of the topic, and how will it impact
on you going forward?
Use a reflective cycle (Gibbs cycle) to write your reflection below. No more than
5 sentences.
An experience and the ‘caring for aspect’ of addressing patients’ specific
requests which I resonated with was during a previous clinical placement
experience where an elderly patient repeatedly requested me to arrange for a
visit from his daughter. I initially had felt irritated since we were understaffed but
I chose to place his request to the workstation. While a bad experience was my
difficulty to manage time a good experience was that the patient repeatedly
expressed his gratitude. Such experiences, as analysed by Henderson (2007),
demonstrate my newly acquired information on the importance of addressing
specific patient requests which I could have handled the situation better by not
being irritated initially. This learning has impacted by enlightening me on nursing
compliance with patient centeredness and empathy which informs my future
plan of actively listening to specific patient concerns for a positive nurse-patient
relationship.
2. Having watched the video above(video on you tube by ‘’Boykin and
Schoenhofer on Nursing as caring) on the theory of 'nursing as caring', reflect on
the example that Dr Anne Boykin gives in relation to the theory principle that
suggests "persons are caring by virtue of their humanness". Dr Boykin gives the
example of a rapist seeking care in the emergency department. Reflect on your
current values and beliefs with consideration to the principle above. How would
you provide care for this patient? What have you learned about caring? Has your
thinking changed? If so, in what ways? How will this impact on you going
forward?
Use a reflective cycle (Gibbs cycle) to write your reflection below. No more than
5 sentences.
In order to reflect on my current nursing values and the principle of drawing care
forward by Boykin, I imagined myself in the place of a nurse being met with a
rapist in the emergency department. Initially, considering my personal
perceptions I would have objectively judged the person and felt reluctant to
demonstrate a caring relationship. However, despite the initial bad experience of
judgement, a good experience would be my ability to demonstrate care non-
judgementally and provide care based on empathising with this person’s beliefs,
needs, opinions and expectations. This experience, as said by Boykin, can be
analysed by understanding the need for nurses to demonstrate care which is