Importance of Caring in Nursing Profession

This essay analyses the significance of caring in nursing profession under the light of the Professional Code of Conduct of Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. It also examines related concepts of care, importance of patient-centered care plan, and challenges faced by nurses in technologically dominated settings.

Running head: NURSING CARE
Nursing Care
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
NURSING CARE
Introduction
According to Adam (2016), philosophy of caring is the basic pillar of nursing
profession. However, Adams (2016, pp: 01) have opined that, “The attribute of caring is no
longer a central theme to the nursing profession and has become only second nature to the
busy, overworked nurse in a technologically dominated setting”. The following essay aims to
analyse to what extent this statement holds significance in nursing profession. Analysis of the
validity of the statement will be done under the light of the Professional Code of Conduct of
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2017) along with detailed examination of related
concept of care and importance of care in nursing profession and present day scenario.
Towards the end the essay with put forward the conclusion stating to what extent the writer
agrees or digresses with the above mentioned statement.
Related concept of care
The profession of nursing is the key healthcare profession. It has principal
contribution towards the overall health and wellbeing of the patients. The concept of care in
nursing profession generally deals with holistic care to the patients for fast recovery of the
mental and physical health (Bodner et al., 2015). According to Oosterom-Calo Vice and
Breslow (2015), apart from providing the medical care, it is also the duty of the nurse to
make sure that the surrounding environment is suitable for fulfilling the comprehensive
requirement of the patients thereby leading towards the physical wellbeing and mental
satisfaction. Oosterom-Calo et al. (2015) further opined that the patients who are suffering
from the prolong disease like cancer, demands certain level of emotional and spiritual support
and it is the duty of the nurse to fulfil the spiritual requirement of the patients in order to
promote speedy mental recovery which in turn positively impacts the physical health.
Ramezani et al. (2014) has also spiritual care mode as one of the related concept of care in

2
NURSING CARE
nursing profession. Spiritual care is regarded as a critical aspect of nursing care. This is
because, the patients project nurses as the valuable source of the spiritual information and it is
the duty of the nurse to be able to fulfil the spiritual requirement of the patients. However, in
spite of increasing importance of spiritual care in the recent times, at present there are still
certain level of ambiguities about in the nature and the associated components of the spiritual
care (Ramezani et al. 2014). According to Lusk and Fater (2013), in order to optimally fulfill
the physical, mental and spiritual requirement of the patients, it is the duty of the nurses to
abide by person or patient centered care model. This care plan varies from person to person
and is now gradually evolving as the principal mode of care plan among the nurses.
Meaning of the term caring
According to Adams (2016) the concept of caring varies from individual to
individual. Adams (2016) have further defined the concept of caring as an altruistic act of
feeling concerned for another person. Caring is the fundamental principal of the nursing
profession as introduced by the Florence Nightingale. The caring in nursing profession has
two main domains one act as a noun and other domain act as the verb that signifies the act of
caring for unknown person when he or she is unable to take care for them (Adams 2016). Via
procuring care, a nurse employs a genuine and authentic practice that is comprehensive and
meaningful to both the patient and their family of cares (Adams 2016). This authentic
practice is mainly based on the nurse knowledge base and the knowledge that arose from the
interpersonal relationship between the nurse and patients. The concept propose by the Adams
(2016) aligns with the Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia. According to the code of ethics
nurse must value quality nurse care for all the patients irrespective of the diversity. Here
quality nursing is acknowledged as accepting the accountability of the standards of the
nursing care and taking reasonable actions as per the requirement.

3
NURSING CARE
Caring an important aspect of nursing
According to Adams (2016, pp: 01), “The attribute of caring is no longer a central
theme to the nursing profession and has become only second nature to the busy, overworked
nurse in a technologically dominated setting”. However, Entwistle and Watt (2013) is of the
opinion that caring is an important aspect of nursing because it helps to improve the overall
experience of patient in the process of delivering healthcare. The concept of caring, helps in
the framing of the patient centred care plan. According to Kitson et al. (2013), patient centred
care plan is one of the crucial parameter behind improvement of patient’s health and
wellbeing. This again goes with the Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia
(2017) which vouches in favour of health and wellbeing of the patient. According to Rathert,
Wyrwich and Boren (2013), patient centred care plan is a modified version behind the
concept of nursing care and must be placed as the first preference in the nursing profession.
The importance of the patient centred care plan is, it covers eight different aspects of patient’s
care plan and this include respect towards patient’s preference, integration and co-ordination
of care, education and information, optimal physical comfort, proper emotional support,
adequate of the family members, friends and family in the decision making process, proper
access to care and continuity and transition (Rathert, Wyrwich and Boren 2013). Moreover,
optimal nursing care is also significant in the present day culturally diverse healthcare
environment of Australia. According to Renzaho et al. (2013), culturally competent health
care model promotes increase rate of awareness cultural awareness under the linguistically
diverse environment and thereby preventing compromised patient-provider relationships
which increasing patient’s health outcomes. This culturally competent care model again
inclines with the Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia (2017) which
emphasize the importance of nursing practise in a culturally competent manner with due

4
NURSING CARE
respect towards the cultural and ethnic values of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
(indigenous population in Australia)
Overworked nurse in technologically dominated settings
According to Shanafelt et al. (2012) and Shanafelt et al. (2015) the majority of the
nursing professionals are now suffering from burnout in comparison to any other profession
in world. Shanafelt et al. (2012) have highlighted both the individual along with
organizational factor as the reason behind this burnout. According to O’Malley et al. (2010)
and Holden (2011), the nurses are of the opinion that documentation of the patient
information through computerized entry is the leading cause of the work overload leading to
concentration distraction along with the decrease in compassionate care. Zhou et al. (2010)
have opined that the concept of technological advancement in health care like application of
the electronic health records have been introduced in the health care system has been
introduced increase the quality of care along with patient safety. However, implementation of
electronic health records has increased the clerical burden over the nursing and other health
care professionals and thus decreasing the quality of care. Active workload generated due to
high requirement of data documentation has decreased the nurse-patient interaction along
with potential distraction of the nursing professional from the quality medical practice.
Dyrbye et al. (2012) have opined that this distraction is affecting the individualized quality of
care (both emotional, spiritual and medical) that the nurses used to take in order to address
the patient concerns. The majority of the hospitals are now using computerized transcription
services in order to document patients’ notes and this have further increased the eel of
burnout among the nursing professionals (Shanafelt et al., 2013). Shanafeltet al. (2016) have
opined that implementation of the computerized documentations have forced the healthcare
professionals to devote more time in clerical documentation in comparison to the critically

5
NURSING CARE
analysis of the patients. According to Entwistle and Watt (2013), critical analysis of a patient
is an important factor for stringently designing the person centred care plan. Person centred
care plan is important crucial for improving the overall patient outcome as it is based on 8
crucial principles like respect of patient’s choices, proper co-ordination and integration of
care, proper information and education about the patient, providing the patients physical
comfort along with emotional support, encouraging active involvement of family in the
patient care plan, continuity and transition of care and proper access to care (Entwistle and
Watt 2013). The study conducted by Shultz and Holmstrom (2015) reported that
technological advancement in the healthcare profession though has helped to increase the
hourly volume of the patients attended but have decreased the quality of personalized care.
Other aspects of being a nurse
Knowledge and skill in nursing care
According to Benner (2012), proper education and updated knowledge among the
nursing professionals pave towards radical transformation. Benner (2012) further opined
effective knowledge and nursing skills helps the nurses to practice in accordance with the
prevailing health care standards while abiding by the health care policies. According to
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) (2017), it is the duty of the nurse to
practice in accordance with the relevant laws of nursing profession. Moreover, proper
education and training among the nursing professionals help in the improvement of the
quality of care via decreasing the incidences of medication error and drug errors (Adhikari et
al., 2014). Adhikari et al. (2014) is of the opinion that this nursing education and skills
training must be undertaken under a multidisciplinary approach so that the nurses gets a
diverse exposure in the different aspects of patient care plan like correct patient, right amount
of drug, right percentage of dose, right span of time and right mode of administration.

6
NURSING CARE
According to Park et al. (2012) Apart from patient care approach, nursing education also
includes ethics education and this domain is highlight significant under the NMBA code of
conduct (2017) which proposes nursing practice under proper reflective exposure undertaken
through ethically sound framework
Compassion and empathy in nursing care
Nursing professional highlights holistic care to the overall health of the patients. This
overall health of the patients encompasses both mental and physical health. Speedy recovery
among the patients demands spiritual and emotional support from nurses and this support
come in form of empathy and compassion (Jason, 2014). According to McCaffrey and
McConnell (2015), compassion is a form of human experience and is of deep significance
towards nursing care as its aims towards understanding the context of the healthcare
environments which is ruled by rationalisation and efficiency. However, Bramley and Matiti
(2014) are of the opinion that compassion in nursing is included with the actions of care
which at times takes time. However, this domain needs to be fleeting in order to strengthen
compassionate connection. In spite of urgent calls for high focus in the all domains of nursing
education and teaching, the opinion of the patient was divided on whether compassion can be
taught or remains a moral value. Gaining a proper understanding of the effect of
uncompassionate actions in nursing care lays an opportunity to revamp both cultural and
individual behaviours (Bramley and Matiti 2014).
Accountability and responsible for actions
As per the NMBA code of conduct (2017), nurses are required to remain accountable
and responsible for their actions. According to Battié and Steelman (2014), accountability or
staying responsible for actions is an essential component of nursing care as it increases the
level of patient safety. Oyetunde and Brown (2012) further opined that the primary healthcare

7
NURSING CARE
nurses who are indulged directly with public are required to be cognizant about their public
stand-point along with the level of accountability and responsibility on professional grounds.
Trustworthy, Respect, Honest, Non-Judgmental, Integrity in nursing care
All these five domains fall under the domain of safe and culturally competent nursing
while valuing the diversity of the people and respecting their confidentiality (NMBA Code of
Conduct, 2017). Here respect meaning respecting the dignity and the consent of the patients
and this in turns goes with the concept of the informed decision-making. According to Barry
and Edgman-Levitan (2012), informed decision-making is an important aspect of nursing
care as it increases the involvement of the patient into the care plan and thereby increasing
the level of outcomes. Moreover, informed decision-making is a pinnacle of patient centered
care, which also helps in reducing the overall cost of care (Oshima and Emanuel, 2013).
Trustworthiness increases the level of trust among the client-nurse relationship and thereby
improving overall patient outcome (Park et al., 2012). According to Ramezani et al. (2014),
non-judgmental and unconditional acceptance in nursing care helps in the improvement of
spiritual care in the nursing practice. Furthermore, spiritual care is dynamic and subjective
concept. Ramezani et al. (2014) has defined this as unique aspect of care that incorporates all
the other aspects of the care model. This concept has emerged under the context of nursing
awareness of the transcendent dimensions of life and then critically reflects on reality of the
patient. The provision for spiritual care leads towards the generation of positive consequences
in patient’s health like healing for patients along with increase in the domain of spiritual
awareness for nursing professional (Ramezani et al., 2014).
Critical thinking and problem solving
Critical thinking and problem solving is an important aspect of nursing profession as
it helps to improve the decision making skills along with the leadership quality among the
nursing professionals and thereby increasing the quality of care. According to Chan (2013),

8
NURSING CARE
concepts of critical thinking changes, from time to time and thus there is an urgent need to
clarify the perspective of the educators towards critical thinking and problem solving skills.
There is also an urgent requirement to evaluate the new strategies towards the improvement
of the critical thinking. With better understanding about the nursing education, educators
along with nursing teachers are required to frame refine strategies towards enhancing critical
thinking skills and in turn making them ready for clinical practice (Chan, 2013). According to
Lee et al. (2013) application of the concept map helps in the overall improvement of the
critical thinking skills among the nursing professionals and thereby helping to refine their
problem solving skills and taking prompt actions. Mulnix (2012) further opined that evidence
based practice among the nursing professionals help in the improvement of the critical
thinking skills among the nursing professionals and thereby making them more proficient in
the domain of active actions during emergencies.
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion it can be concluded that caring is an important aspect
of nursing profession. Caring does not only centres on providing quality health care for
improvement of the patient’s physical health but also encompass proper assessment of mental
health of the patients. Care in the domain of mental support deals generally deals emphasizes
compassion and empathy along with exercising trustworthy and health relationship with the
client. For drafting a comprehensive care plan, nurses must work on their critical think,
problem-solving skills along with generating awareness under the domain of culturally
competent care. However, increase in the application of technology-based documentation is
creating a barrier towards the nursing professional to indulge in quality relationship with their
client via practicing communication and intra-personal skills. This increase in the
documentation is increasing extra clerical work load of the healthcare professionals thereby

9
NURSING CARE
shifting the focus of the healthcare professionals from the care plan drafting towards
technology based applications.

10
NURSING CARE
References
Bodner, E., Cohen-Fridel, S., Mashiah, M., Segal, M., Grinshpoon, A., Fischel, T., & Iancu,
I. (2015). The attitudes of psychiatric hospital staff toward hospitalization and
treatment of patients with borderline personality disorder. BMC psychiatry, 15(1), 2.
Ramezani, M., Ahmadi, F., Mohammadi, E., & Kazemnejad, A. (2014). Spiritual care in
nursing: a concept analysis. International nursing review, 61(2), 211-219.
Adams, L. Y. (2016). The conundrum of caring in nursing. International Journal of Caring
Sciences, 9(1), 1.
Entwistle, V. A., & Watt, I. S. (2013). Treating patients as persons: a capabilities approach to
support delivery of person-centered care. The American Journal of Bioethics, 13(8),
29-39.
Shanafelt, T. D., Boone, S., Tan, L., Dyrbye, L. N., Sotile, W., Satele, D., ...&Oreskovich, M.
R. (2012). Burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance among US physicians
relative to the general US population.Archives of Internal Medicine,172(18), 1377-
1385.
Shanafelt, T. D., Gradishar, W., Kosty, M. P., Satele, D., Chew, H. K., Horn, L., ...& Pippen,
J. E. (2013). Burnout and career satisfaction among US oncologists: Results of the
2012 ASCO survey. Retrieved from:
http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/jco.2013.31.15_suppl.6533
Shanafelt, T. D., Hasan, O., Dyrbye, L. N., Sinsky, C., Satele, D., Sloan, J., & West, C. P.
(2015, December).Changes in burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance in
physicians and the general US working population between 2011 and 2014.Mayo
Clinic Proceedings,90(12), 600-1613.

11
NURSING CARE
Shanafelt, T., Dyrbye, L., Sinsky, C., HAssan, O., &Satele, D. (2016).Relationship between
clerical burden and characteristics of the electronic environment with physician
burnout and professional satisfaction.Mayo Clinic Proceedings,91(7), 836–848.
O’Malley, A. S., Grossman, J. M., Cohen, G. R., Kemper, N. M., & Pham, H. H.
(2010). Are electronic medical records helpful for care coordination? Experiences of
physician practices.Journal of General Internal Medicine,25(3), 177-185.
Holden, R. J. (2011). Cognitive performance-altering effects of electronic medical records:
An application of the human factors paradigm for patient safety. Cognition,
Technology & Work,13(1), 11-29. doi:
Zhou, Y. Y., Kanter, M. H., Wang, J. J., & Garrido, T. (2010).Improved quality at Kaiser
Permanente through e-mail between physicians and patients. Health affairs,29(7),
1370-1375.
Dyrbye, L. N., West, C. P., Burriss, T. C., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2012). Providing primary care
in the United States: the work no one sees.Archives of Internal Medicine,172(18),
1420-1421.
Kitson, A., Marshall, A., Bassett, K., & Zeitz, K. (2013). What are the core elements of
patient‐centred care? A narrative review and synthesis of the literature from health
policy, medicine and nursing. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(1), 4-15.
Rathert, C., Wyrwich, M. D., & Boren, S. A. (2013). Patient-centered care and outcomes: a
systematic review of the literature. Medical Care Research and Review, 70(4), 351-
379.
Renzaho, A. M. N., Romios, P., Crock, C., & Sønderlund, A. L. (2013). The effectiveness of
cultural competence programs in ethnic minority patient-centered health care—a

12
NURSING CARE
systematic review of the literature. International Journal for Quality in Health
Care, 25(3), 261-269.
Benner, P. (2012). Educating nurses: A call for radical transformation—how far have we
come?. Journal of Nursing Education, 51(4), 183-184.
Adhikari, R., Tocher, J., Smith, P., Corcoran, J., & MacArthur, J. (2014). A multi-
disciplinary approach to medication safety and the implication for nursing education
and practice. Nurse education today, 34(2), 185-190.
Park, M., Kjervik, D., Crandell, J., & Oermann, M. H. (2012). The relationship of ethics
education to moral sensitivity and moral reasoning skills of nursing students. Nursing
ethics, 19(4), 568-580.
Bramley, L., & Matiti, M. (2014). How does it really feel to be in my shoes? Patients'
experiences of compassion within nursing care and their perceptions of developing
compassionate nurses. Journal of clinical nursing, 23(19-20), 2790-2799.
McCaffrey, G., & McConnell, S. (2015). Compassion: a critical review of peer‐reviewed
nursing literature. Journal of clinical nursing, 24(19-20), 3006-3015.
Jason, A. (2014). Defining patient experience. Patient experience journal, 1(1), 7-19.
Oyetunde, M. O., & Brown, V. B. (2012). Professional accountability: implications for
primary healthcare nursing practice. JONA'S healthcare law, ethics and
regulation, 14(4), 109-114.
Battié, R., & Steelman, V. M. (2014). Accountability in nursing practice: why it is important
for patient safety. AORN journal, 100(5), 537-541.

13
NURSING CARE
Park, S. H., Blegen, M. A., Spetz, J., Chapman, S. A., & De Groot, H. (2012). Patient
turnover and the relationship between nurse staffing and patient outcomes. Research
in nursing & health, 35(3), 277-288.
Barry, M. J., & Edgman-Levitan, S. (2012). Shared decision making—the pinnacle of
patient-centered care. New England Journal of Medicine, 366(9), 780-781.
Oshima Lee, E., & Emanuel, E. J. (2013). Shared decision making to improve care and
reduce costs. New England Journal of Medicine, 368(1), 6-8.
Ramezani, M., Ahmadi, F., Mohammadi, E., & Kazemnejad, A. (2014). Spiritual care in
nursing: a concept analysis. International nursing review, 61(2), 211-219.
Chan, Z. C. (2013). A systematic review of critical thinking in nursing education. Nurse
Education Today, 33(3), 236-240.
Lee, W., Chiang, C. H., Liao, I. C., Lee, M. L., Chen, S. L., & Liang, T. (2013). The
longitudinal effect of concept map teaching on critical thinking of nursing
students. Nurse education today, 33(10), 1219-1223.
Mulnix, J. W. (2012). Thinking critically about critical thinking. Educational Philosophy and
theory, 44(5), 464-479.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia., (2017). Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses
in Australia Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia. Access date: 16th
April. Retrieved from: http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia., (2017). Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia.:
Australian College of Nursing. Access date: 16th April. Retrieved from:
http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/

14
NURSING CARE
Lusk, J. M., & Fater, K. (2013, April). A Concept Analysis of Patient‐Centered Care.
In Nursing Forum (Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 89-98).
Oosterom-Calo, R., Vice, K., & Breslow, M. (2015, August). Experiences of Older Patients
with Multiple Chronic Conditions in the Intensive Ambulatory Care Home Telehealth
Program. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 311-
316). Springer, Cham.