Caring

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the work life of the nurse manager during the transition from primary care to patient-focused care. The sample population includes nurse managers who were in administrative roles at the time of transition from primary care to patient-focused care delivery model. Exploratory descriptive data were collected by an open-interview, semi-structured format utilizing focused questions with three nurse managers who participated in the study. The study adds significantly to the current debate on caring, nursing, nursing administration, patient-focused care, and nursing care delivery systems.

This research explored the patient in the intensive care units experience of care from a phenomenological perspective. The question guiding the study was: What is the meaning of care for patients in the intensive care unit? Using a phenomenological approach, six participants described their experiences of the phenomenon of care. The eight essential themes that emerged from the analysis of the descriptions of care for the patients in ICU are: (1) Being connected; (2) Feeling watched over; (3) Feeling the presence; (4) Feeling commitment; (5) Receiving Compassion; (6) Feeling valued as a person; (7) Receiving comfort; and (8) Experiencing Competence. Further analysis lead to the thematic phrase: The Essence of Isolation-Union while feeling the Presence and Competency of others. The unity of meaning was then discovered from analysis of the essential themes and thematic phrase. The unity of meaning which captures the experience of care for a person in the ICU setting is: The Illumination of the Human Spirit in the Celebration of Life.

The purpose of this study was to describe caring attributes of nursing staff as rated by nursing students. A convenience sample of 166 second year associate degree nursing students was asked to rate caring attributes of nursing staff using the Nyberg Caring Assessment Scale, a twenty item 5-point Likert scale instrument. One hundred and thirty-seven nursing students volunteered to participate in the study. The caring attribute "communicate a helping, trusting attitude toward others" was rated as extremely important by the participants. The participants rated "remains committed to a continuing relationship" and "considers relationship before rules" as slightly important. The remaining items were rated as somewhat important to very important. The study adds to the literature of caring in nursing education and practice.

This study presents the development and testing of a tool, the Nursing Comfort Measures Scale, to measure comfort delivered by nurses to patients. The tool was shown to have excellent reliability in the form of internal consistency and test-retest reliability and was also found by a panel of experts to have content validity. The Nursing Comfort Measures Scale was then tested among a group of 50 critical care nurses. Overall, they were found to be delivering comfort often to their patients. Nurses were also found to be delivering fewer comfort measures within the spiritual, environmental, and physical domains.

This is a historical research study of the influence of feminism on nursing and nursing education from 1970 to 1994. Historical research contributes to the knowledge of the underpinnings of nursing education practices and the socialization process of nurses as a profession within the male, patriarchal system of medicine. This inquiry identifies select nurse-woman leaders and their contributions in incorporating a new value system for education and nursing based on feminist principles. The implications of this paradigm shift for nursing education, practice and research are discussed.

Patients and nurses have been found to perceive support differently. This exploratory study was undertaken to: (a) identify those nursing behaviors perceived by emergency department patients as supportive, and (b) to identify the importance emergency room patients give to various nursing behaviors on a checklist. A sample of 30 emergency department patients completed a guided interview and the Supportive Nursing Behavior Checklist. The perceived attitude of the nurse toward the patient and the availability of the nurse to the patient were the most important factors influencing patients' perceptions of support. The nurse being friendly and cheerful were the most important behaviors. The study has implications for nursing practice, nursing administration and nursing education. Suggestions are also given for further research.

This research study, utilizing Colaizzi's phenomenological method, examined the clients' perspective of a caring interaction between a nurse and client during cardiac catheterization. Eight participants described their experience of a caring interaction with a nurse during cardiac catheterization. Formulated meanings were derived from their significant statements and then grouped into themes. Three common themes emerged to form the essence of caring. The ingredients for a caring interaction included connecting through genuine presence, being there through technical competence, and caring as a way of seeing through verbal communication. By providing an understanding of the clients' perspective, this study will benefit the nursing profession and contribute to the foundation of a theory based practice for the care of the client who has experienced cardiac catheterization. This practice will be grounded in the caring philosophy.

This research explored a nurse's experience of creating visual art with patients in clinical settings. The question guiding the study was: What is the experience of creating visual art for a nurse? The aim of this descriptive study was to discover what is the nature of the experience of creating visual art as an aspect of nursing care from a nurse's perspective. Using van Manen's phenomenological approach, a description of the experience of creating visual art with patients occurred. Five essential themes emerged and express this experience. The unity of meaning for the experience is portrayed as A Healing Portrait of the Soul's Journey in Compassionate, Cocreative Relationships of Openness, Human Connectedness and Transformation. Implications for nursing inquiry, practice, and education are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine nursing values as expressed in the practice of nurses pursuing the Master of Science Degree in Nursing. Two stories representing nursing situations reflective of nurses' values guiding practice were chosen for analysis. Content analysis was the method used to study the stories to identify values guiding the practice of nursing. The analysis revealed the following nursing values guiding practice: compassion, respect for the other, competence, commitment, inner harmony, patience, hope, courage, humility, and trust. Caring was identified as the central value of nursing.

This research study, utilizing Colaizzi's phenomenological method, explored the lived experience of connectedness as experienced by nurses practicing in an acute care setting. Eight currently-practicing nurses described their experiences of connectedness with a patient. Based on the significant statements which were formulated into meanings and then grouped into themes, five common themes emerged. These themes revealed that connectedness occurs with death or during near-death situations, when the nurse identifies with the patient, provides an authentic presence in the nursing situation, utilizes non-verbal communication, creating a pleasant and exhilarating experience. Through providing a better understanding of this phenomenon, nurses may experience a greater fulfillment in nursing.