Commitment - the bridge to caring: The meaning of commitment as lived by critical-care nurses

The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of commitment to nursing from the perspective of critical-care nurses. Phenomenology was the research method. Van Manen's approach guided this study with Munhall's adaptation of existential investigation. Seven nurses participated. All were selected on a voluntary basis provided they were working in critical-care, had two years of critical-care experience, and were willing to talk about the topic of commitment. Several themes emerged as essential to humanistic experience of commitment to nursing. Contextual descriptions of commitment also emerged. The nurses' primary commitment was to the patient and the ethical dilemmas that surfaced when they tried to honor that commitment proved the major source of frustration and dissatisfaction. Commitment was found to be the connection or bridge to caring. Without commitment there was no caring. Implications for nursing administration and education were addressed. Additional questions were raised for future research.