Conception of \'Caring\' in Nursing

¶ … conception of 'caring' in nursing is that the word is associated with femininity, non-professionalism, and the idea of caring for someone at home rather than in a clinical setting. Unfortunately, too much emphasis on caring in nursing can result in a loss of respect for the profession. Nursing theorists have worked hard and long to stress the scientific and empirical side of nursing care. But nursing is not the only profession that uses the language of caring. Teachers, social workers -- even sales associates are supposed to be 'caring' in their work. Furthermore, should doctors and other healthcare professionals who are not nurses not be 'caring?' A poll of five non-nursing friends all stated that they thought of nursing, along with teaching as one of the "caring" professions, and two specifically referred to the familiar phrase 'angels of mercy' in the sense that nurses that had cared for ailing family members in hospital were angel-like in the concern they had shown. While this is heartening, this is also a very high ideal to live up to for nurses -- sometimes an impossible one.

As a nurse, one problem I frequently encountered due to the conceptualization of nurses simply as 'caring' was that patients would often be upset when I was forced to require them to do something painful (such as give blood or receive an injection). This was required for me to 'give care' to them but was not necessarily 'caring' a loving, tender sense. Caring for someone as a nurse requires skills and an attitude that is very different from caring for someone as a friend or parent.

I think the idea of nurses as 'caring' is very much linked to the phenomenon of nurses 'eating their young.' Because nurses are expected to be caring in such a broad sense, in a way that is impossible to fulfill in the day-to-day life of a healthcare provider, nurses take out their frustrations on one another, rather than on patients. Of course, this is counter-productive to nurses' mental health and ultimately to the profession, given that it increases the rate of attrition of younger nurses.