While reflecting on the nursing career, words that come to mind are care, patient-centered, therapeutic, empathetic and compassionate. These are words that have similar meanings but differ slightly from one another, and each of them are valuable to in the art of nursing. Nursing is a career fulfilling many roles, when done well. With patient care, a nurse must be empathetic and compassionate, and the patient must be able to confide in the nurse as they provide care.
For me, empathy is understanding how others react to a situation, and being able to comprehend those feelings. Empathy is necessary to nursing because as a nurse provides care to a patient, it is important to be able to understand what the patient is experiencing and ways in which to help them. Being able to sympathize with a patient and care for them thoughtfully can result in positive outcomes. Empathy not only helps with the care for a patient, it can create trust in a patient-nurse connection. Nurses are the people that are always there for a patient, during mealtimes, while passing medications, before and after surgery. Being able to create a trusting, personal connection is critical. The relationship between a nurse and a patient can offer the patient the ability to open up and communicate their feelings during a stressful experience. Being a patient can be scary or new, and a nurse is the person who is there for every aspect of the patient’s hospital experience. A nurse must understand what it is like to be a patient, and be empathetic to a patient while they are providing care for them. As a patient receives care, a nurse is there to educate, support and calm the patient and empathy is needed to help understand how a patient learns and copes. Planning is a necessary aspect of nursing and recognizing what a patient needs is vital to successful patient outcomes.
Compassion is another personal and valuable aspect to nursing. Compassion is the ability to have concern for the hardships patients are experiencing. Compassion is being sympathetic to those who are struggling. Compassion can be complicated, because everyone experiences trauma differently, and if you haven’t experienced a hospital visit, it is hard to be sympathetic. A nurse must learn to understand the suffering of others and use sympathy to connect with patients. Understanding the pain, suffering and concerns of a patient is what makes a nurse unique and special. This past June I broke my pelvis and was bed-ridden for many weeks, giving me the time and truly valuable experience of struggling as a patient. Now, as I become a nurse I can remember this experience and connect with my patients on a different level.
The personal traits and practice of empathy and compassion for a nurse can make a world of difference. When a nurse shows kindness and understanding to a patient, the outcomes are more positive. A patient is often having an experience that will change their life; empathy and compassion are all they need from a nurse, someone who will understand them during the hard times and provide support and a private environment. Would you rather experience a nurse who is rude, and shows no empathy for what you are going through, or have a nurse that sits with you when things get complicated and listens to you while providing care that matters? I would prefer the nurse who has mastered empathy and compassion. One might say that two personality traits couldn’t be that critical in the care of a patient, but I believe that many nurses and patients would disagree. A warm smile or therapeutic conversation before therapy will always make a difference and be very welcome.
Watson’s Caritive Factors are woven into nursing in many ways. There are core principles such as being loving and kind, allowing miracles, and being present. All of these core values work in partnership with compassion and empathy. There are ten caritive factors that give deeper meaning to care and empathy. There are many superficial things we think of when it comes to compassion and empathy, but these ten specific factors highlight and teach how to put love into a nurse’s level of care. These ten carative factors are excellent examples of what a nurse should model during their shift to provide the best patient-centered care. Care as described in Watson’s theory can be used in many ways. Care of self, care of others, care of family, etc. Thinking of care as a multi-faceted, reminds us that we need to care for ourselves as much as we need to care for our patients. We must also be empathetic to ourselves as nurses and understand our feelings after a long, hard day at work, allowing ourselves the time to process the day’s experiences.
During my time at clinical this semester, I believe and hope that I provided care using empathy and compassion. I wasn’t able to do the physical things with my patients, but I was able to be there for them to share with me, and also to do small tasks that made a huge difference to them. The patients that I worked with were elderly adults and they had been thrown completely out of their normal lives when they were put into the hospital for care. One patient of mine was in constant pain and told me about it often. I spoke with this patient calmly to try and make her more comfortable. Using conversation and distraction can allow people to think of things other than their pain. I wasn’t able to give this patient medicine or move her into a more comfortable position, so I did what I could to try and lessen her pain. I trust that I used both empathy and compassion in this scenario. Another time that I used caring skills was to work with a patient that was definitely uncomfortable because she wanted certain things to be a certain “normal” way in her room and I helped her to accomplish this. Although I didn’t feel particularly like a nurse in this situation, I quickly realized and recognized that nursing isn’t always about passing medications and taking vitals. Nursing is about caring for a patient in the best way possible, making decisions and doing whatever one can to make them comfortable. Empathy and compassion were evident when I worked with this patient because I understood her feelings and I understood that she was going through a hard time in her life, simply moving her blanket to the chair and throwing out old ice packs was all she needed in that moment.
In the future, I hope to learn more caring skills and to master them. As time goes on, I will have seen and done more patient-nurse exchanges, and providing better care will be something I perfect. This was my first semester in a hospital and it was a major but valuable adjustment. As my time in nursing expands, I will be better able to understand how patients are feeling and which different measures I can take to make them as comfortable as possible. I will learn to really be present for my patient’s. In my clinical experience I noticed that during busy times, some patients got overlooked. I know it can be hard to provide care to all patients at the same time, but one of my goals is to work very diligently not to neglect any patient’s care. I have always felt that I am empathetic compassionate and that is the strongest reason I chose nursing as my career. It takes a kind, thoughtful and patient person to provide care to a variety of people who are in a time of need.
