In a discussion of nursing, care is always a word that seems to pop up. When asked why I want to be a nurse “because I care” is always in the response. “Caring is a phenomenon influencing the ways in which people think, feel, and behave in relation to one another” (Potter, & Perry, et al. 2013 p.80). When looking at this definition I for one can see that caring is nursing and vice versa, you cannot have one without the other. One of the aspects of being a good nurse is having a good relationship with your patient. In the nurse patient relationship caring goes along way. In order to understand your patient, what they want or need, you must first care about them. Each patient is different and you care for each in a specific way. You don’t care for an 82 year old woman the way you care for a 4 year old child. I’m not sure she would appreciate a SpongeBob band aid after we give her a shot. Or maybe she would it’s our job to care enough to build a relationship with her to find out if she likes watching cartoons. As nurses it’s within our role to find out as much as we can about as much as we can about our patients. Just by having a conversation and using a caring approach we can begin, strengthen or foster that nurse patient relationship. In caring for the 82 year old woman we can see that maybe adding cartoons to her morning would make her feel better.
