Running head: WHAT CARING IS NOT 1

What Caring Is Not

Kimberly Coats

Dixie State University

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What Caring Is Not

Coming from a family with a strong healthcare background and then marrying into a

family with an even stronger background in nursing, I have been able to see many varieties and

approaches to patient care and the concept of care itself. As a nursing student and future

Registered Nurse, I have tried to absorb as much as possible and I have seen a vast array of very

caring nurses and also some not so caring nurses.

While doing a rotation in the Emergency Department last semester, I was paired with a

very smart, capable nurse. Seriously, she was a great teacher. She was very proactive about

letting me do my skills and helping me in any way she could. After I performed that skill she

would offer pointers or tips on how I could improve my nursing skills. But she lacked a very

important skill, at least on this day. That day, a young boy from a polygamist family came in on

the ambulance after he was kicked in the head by a horse. His mother and a friend with some

medical training were with the boy. From the moment the nurse walked into the room, she was

inpatient and short with the patient’s family. She treated them like they were an inconvenience

and a problem. Later she admitted to me that she had never been around polygamists before

moving to the area and she did not understand them or feel comfortable around them. This is true

for a lot of people when it comes to certain types of people or religions. I believe that a truly

caring nurse would have been able to see past the family’s religious differences and been able to

care for them like any other patient.

Many nurses go into the profession because they want to care for people and believe they

can make a difference, but “the concept of caring has not been fully translated into a defined set

of nursing activities and thus nurses may not have a clear articulation or action plan for human

caring interventions (Gallagher-Lepak & Kubsch, 2009)”. Evidence based practice shows proof
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that patients respond better when they feel that their nurse has a true interest in their well-being

and health.

Conclusion

This experience taught me what it means to really be a caring nurse. A caring nurse can

leave her prejudice feelings at home and be professional, regardless of her feelings or if she is

having a bad day. A caring nurse is genuine and is concerned about the welfare of the patient,

physically, mentally, and psychologically. This family came to receive medical care and

although they were not turned away, they were not treated as they should have been. There are

some things that you cannot fake and caring is one of them.
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References
Gallagher-Lepak, S., & Kubsch, S. (2009). Transpersonal Caring: A Nursing Practice Guideline. Holistic
Nursing Practice, 171-182.