Caring in Nursing: Exploring Theories, Practices, and Personal Values

This assignment presents a reflective analysis of the concept of caring within the nursing profession. The student engages with three articles and a video, exploring different facets of care. The first reflection centers on the importance of addressing specific patient requests and the impact of empathy in nursing. The second reflection delves into the theory of 'nursing as caring,' using Dr. Anne Boykin's example of providing care to a rapist in an emergency department, prompting a self-assessment of the student's values and beliefs. The third reflection examines self-healing and self-care for nurses, emphasizing the role of conscious leadership in creating supportive environments. The assignment concludes with a self-assessment of the student's understanding of the week's topics, reflecting on the evolution of their knowledge and values regarding patient-centered care and empathy. The student highlights the importance of non-judgmental care and active listening to patient concerns. This assignment demonstrates an understanding of reflective practice, nursing theories, and the practical application of caring principles within a clinical setting.

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 non-judgmental and truly person-centred. To conclude, this learning changed my
current caring values by teaching me on the need to respect individuals holistically without
judgement, which in turn, has impacted my future plans of ensuring to carry forward caring
behaviours by nursing patients as per their unique needs and not merely by judging their actions.
Reading
Crane, P., & Ward, S. (2016). Self-healing and self-care for nurses. AORN Journal, 104, 386-400.
doi:10.1016/j.aom.2016.09.007

3. Having read the article above, reflect on an aspect of 'self-healing' and 'self-care' 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 to write your reflection below. No more than 5 sentences.
A key experience and an aspect of conscious leadership in self-care and self-healing which I
resonated was during my clinical placement when a newly enrolled nurse felt extremely anxious
during an emergency patient situation. At that moment I felt really concerned for her so I escalated
the issue to my team leader. While a bad experience was our immediate inability as a team to
manage both the emergency and the anxious nurse, a good experience was that our team leader
empathised and requested her to spend some time alone in the nurses’ break room after which, our
teammate calmed down. As analysed by Crane and Ward (2016), this experience demonstrates the
importance of conscious leadership in creating environments in which team members can thrive,
remain focussed, function effectively and recover from stress. To conclude, this experience impacted
me by teaching me on the importance of conscious leadership, on how I could have helped my peer
better by giving time to empathise with her and my future action plan of maintaining environments
as a leader where nurses can isolate, reflect on their own and heal from stress.
4. Having attended to this week's readings and taken part in the tutorial activities, rate you
understanding of this week's topic.
A score of 1 being a limited understanding and a score of 5 being a comprehensive understanding.
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Please provide a brief reflective statement as to why you gave this rating (no more than 5
sentences).
Points to consider:
 What did you know about the topic(s) before?
 What have you learned?
 Has your thinking / views / values / understanding changed or been challenged? If so, in
what ways? if not, why?

 How will this impact on you going forward?
I initially knew that nursing to be a practice of both healing as well as caring for basic hygiene needs
of patients. Based on this week’s readings, I gave a rating of 4 since I further learned of the need for
nurses to first be aware of their own and other’s emotions, be attentive to unique patient needs, be
responsible towards the need to deliver quality and competent care practice and most importantly
demonstrate self-care for themselves. Also learned the need to address specific concerns requested
by patients as well as the need to actually practice care non-judgementally. A key personal value
which changed in me was need to be empathetic by not judging a person’s action’s but rather by
responding to his or her unique needs and wants as a nurse. This learning will impact me in the form
of me actively listening to, empathising and fulfilling an individual’s specific needs, without
considering his or her actions, during my future practice after which, I will be able to score myself
with 5.