A Nursing Art

I like to tell my students the best thing to give to your patients is yourself. It is not about giving time - time can be in short supply during a shift - but more about how we use the time we do have. It is in the way we use our eyes and the tone of our voice, the intensity with which we listen, nods of our heads, and words of reassurance; basically letting them know we care. Yesterday we talked about "unconditional positive regard," a term Carl Rogers gets credit for. I believe it lays a foundation for the nurse-patient relationship by eliminating judgment and offers an unstated confidence in our patients, helping them to recover from whatever is ailing them, mental or physical. It is always good to have someone to believe in you! Sure there are people we see over and over again because they have learned how to manipulate the health care system, who do not take care of themselves, and we are tempted to criticize. Why can't they be perfect like us, we ask. But much of our work is the personal philosophies and attitudes that people read in us and not simply tasks. When we work to develop unconditional positive regard and are able give it to our patients, we sometimes give it to ourselves, too.