What concerns do you have about being a caring nurse?

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

from my nursing foundations class.....

• what concerns/questions do you have about caring and/or being a caring nurse? i think that one of the most difficult things about expressing care and concern to your clients is showing empathy but not sympathy and maintaining healthy boundaries. sometimes i think that nurses are so concerned about "making the problem better" that as individuals they can lose sight of the importance of not being manipulated by their client. i know of several nurses who have gotten in legal trouble for engaging in emotional and physical relationships with a client under their care. our clients are not here to meet our emotional or physical needs. i think that we all need to work together as student nurses and nurses to help each other maintain safe boundaries with patients.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

That's a great question and I like your answer. Drawing the line in nurse-patient relationships is a difficult one for many. For a nurse who takes care of the same patient for months or years, a friendship is very likely to form.

One concern I have related to caring is that I rarely have tons of time to spend with patients and families, especially since I'm a relatively new nurse, so I'm not a time management pro yet. Sometimes I feel rushed just to meet all of the physical needs, much less to sit down and have much of a caring dialogue.

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

Do not forget too that what is seen as "care" can be different by different people.

I.E. the Prima donna Drama Queen screaming about a nearly invisible paper cut may feel that we are uncaring when we tell her that sticking her pinky in her mouth would do her more good than waiting 6 hours in an emergency room full of people with the flu.

There are those who equate "care" with "someone to do everything for me" whereas "care" in a therapuetic sense truly means giving the patient what they NEED and not what they want.

This is actually one essence of the problem - therapuetic care versus what the public sees as the nurses role.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Good answer.