Assessment 2: Caring Concept
Capella University
NURS-FPX6203: Theory Development in Nursing
Professor Name
July 2024
Caring Concept
A concept is a word or a phrase that refers to abstract general ideas, e.g., equity, environment. Caring is one of the concepts that form the basis of nursing (Alikari et al., 2022). Apart from achieving the ability to know what is right and wrong in delivering health care services, the essence of being a competent nurse is more focused on the desire to care. The essence of caring is not something that can be instructed or acquired within a nursing curriculum. Nurturing is a prerequisite for all nurses and a sign of an excellent nurse. Empathy allows the gateway to fostering a therapeutic connection, linking the nurse and the patient to be open (Akansel et al., 2020). Indeed, caring is crucial because one has to be a great nurse. Nevertheless, caring is not sufficient to secure a job in this sphere. However, it remains one of the fundamentals and will continue to be a fundamental that will define nursing as a practice.
The Essence of Nursing: A Commitment to Care
Scenario
Obtaining a position in the nursing field is something that necessitates certain attributes and different reasons (Alikari et al., 2022). In this decision, insights, and considerations regarding the core of nursing, I acted on a profound need to help people at their worst. Today, I am a bedside critical care nurse whose potentiality and willingness to care are persistently pushed. I strongly associate sensitivity as an essential trait because a nurse should have compassion. Even though caring is a core component of nursing, some aspects can affect the level of interest of a nurse in this profession, including patients’ compliance, working conditions, developments in technology, Staff patient ratio, support from the management, and the value of time off (Alikari et al., 2022).
Nursing During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Starting my nursing career amid the COVID-19 pandemic presented numerous challenges, including unsafe patient-staff ratios. This period was marked by profound despair as patients were isolated from their loved ones. The fear and uncertainty I witnessed in my patients’ eyes fueled my determination to care for them. The concept of caring became my anchor, helping me navigate through each day and provide essential support to my patients.
Concept Analysis: The Role of Caring in Nursing
In my decision to enroll for a master of science in nursing focusing on becoming a family nurse practitioner, I acknowledge that the care issue will forever remain an active policy. The knowledge and skills I will gain are good, but I will always be a carer at heart. Butts and Rich’s (2022) touch on how Caring prevails in nursing. Thus, Regardless of the skills, domains, assumptions, and development that influence APNs’ decision-making, the core function of nursing remains centered on caring (Tiliander et al., 2023). Caring is essential in the APRNs’ practice because it promotes healing, trust, and better patient outcomes (Babapour et al., 2022).
Caring, Empathy, and Compassion
Care is associated with the understanding of the patient and kindness, which must be the guiding principle when it comes to a patient’s feelings (Butts & Rich, 2022). It is still possible for a person to improve their physical well-being and treatment despite integrating several modern innovations into it and paying much attention to the patient’s psychological condition.
Literature Review: Defining the Concept of Caring
The Nature of Caring
Butts and Rich (2022) define caring as an action that entails concern for persons and their environment without any desire for reimbursement. The given outline of the external environment in health care decentralizes patient safety, hope, and well-being by requiring the health care provider’s behaviors, skills, and attitudes. Feeling cared for will motivate patients and families to get involved more in the process of their treatment (Butts & Rich, 2022).
Impact of Caring on Nurses
Caring relationships in humans offer useful commending to the worth of nurses’ labor (Ghanbari et al., 2022). Such feedback is very important in motivating and enthusing the practitioners in the profession. Butts and Rich (2022) assert that they noticed that caring is not just an occasional work of utterances and gestures but a harmonized combination of disciplinary norms, knowledge-based undertakings, professional methodologies, as well as positive dispositions.
The Essential Role of Caring in Nursing
People identified caring as one of the key components of quality nursing care, as it responds to patients’ physical, psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual needs and results in patient satisfaction and the satisfaction of nursing professionals (Ghanbari et al., 2022).
Nurses’ Perceptions of Caring
Sebrant and Jong’s study, “What is the meaning of the concept of caring?: About this, “Ameta-synthesis” (2020) focuses on the perceptions held by nurses on the subject of caring. Thus, they discovered that nursing is mentally entwined with caring, which is defined as a fundamental competency nurses use at a deeper, more deliberate level (Yusefi et al., 2022). Caring competence is not an academic asset that can be acquired from books but more of a competence acquired from practice and self-evaluation (Kwame & Petrucka, 2021).
Themes of Caring
The study identified four themes: ‘to be,’ ‘to want,’ ‘to be able to,’ and ‘to do.’Each of these concepts highlights various dimensions of caregiving:
- ‘To be’: Participating in patient care as an engaged and integral healthcare team member.
- ‘To want’: Nurses’ desire to develop personally and professionally through self-reflection and learning.
- ‘To be able to’: The practical application of caring based on experience, laws, organizational conditions, and social norms.
- ‘To do’: Creating interpersonal relationships and performing person-centered care actions (Molina & Gallo, 2020).
These themes collectively define the continuous cycle of caring in nursing practice.
NURS FPX 6203 Assessment 2 Caring Concept Conclusion
Caring in nursing is a broad concept involving internal and external aspects (Sebrant & Jong, 2020). It encompasses being a friendly, skilled nurse, acquiring knowledge from adverse incidents, being a magnet that works through the endurance of environmental barriers, and working friendships with patients. The ability to care is inherent in all nurses, but the unwavering commitment to this principle distinguishes exceptional nurses.
NURS FPX 6203 Assessment 2 Caring Concept References
Akansel, N., Watson, R., Vatansever, N., & Özdemir, A. (2020). Nurses’ perceptions of caring activities in nursing. Nursing Open, 8(1), 506–516. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.653
Alikari, V., Gerogianni, G., Fradelos, E. C., Kelesi, M., Kaba, E., & Zyga, S. (2022). Perceptions of caring behaviors among patients and nurses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(1), 396. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010396
Babapour, A. R., Gahassab, N., & Fathnezhad, A. (2022). A cross-sectional study of nurses’ job stress and its impact on quality of life and caring behaviors. BMC Nursing, 21, 75. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-022-00852-y
Butts, J. B., & Rich, L. (2022). Jones & Bartlett learning. Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing practice, 57(6), 1593–1598. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12827
Ghanbari, L., Adib, M., & Dianati, M. (2022). Human caring: A concept analysis. Journal of Caring Sciences, 11(4), 246–254. https://doi.org/10.34172/jcs.2022.21
Kwame, A., & Petrucka, P. M. (2021). A literature-based study of patient-centered care and communication in nurse-patient interactions: Barriers, facilitators, and the way forward. BMC Nursing, 20, 158. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00684-2
Molina, J., & Gallo, J. (2020). Impact of nurse-patient relationship on quality of care and patient autonomy in decision-making. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(3), 835. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030835
Sebrant, L., & Jong, M. (2020). What is the meaning of the concept of caring?: A meta-synthesis. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 35(2), 353-365. https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12850
Tiliander, A., Olsson, C., Kalén, S., Ponzer, S. S., & Fagerdahl, A. M. (2023). Factors affecting nurses’ decision to undergo a specialist education and to choose a specialty. Nursing Open, 10(1), 252–263. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.1300
Yusefi, A. R., Sarvestani, S. R., & Kavosi, Z. (2022). Patients’ perceptions of the quality of nursing services. BMC Nursing, 21, 131. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-022-00906-1
