What I learned
Attending 2 conferences, back to back, gave me the opportunity to see – AGAIN – how busy and unified nurses are.
It didn’t matter that one was a Human Caring (IAHC) conference
- 40th Annual International Association for Human Caring Conference
- Wednesday, May 30 – Saturday, June 2, 2019
- Greenville, South Carolina
and the other a Palliative Care (SDCCC) conference.
The conversations were the same.
Everyone is juggling a lot of demands.
Everyone is dedicated to deepen connections with patients.
Most presentations at both conferences built on patient-centered care programs.
My angle is a bit different.
My message is nurse-centered
I’m promoting a nurse leader practice that is nurse-centered. It’s a grassroots, organic, stand-alone nurse leader practice.
One thing for sure, Nurses are concerned about nurses.
When I said that my aim is to help nurse leaders bring caring science into organizations in doable ways …
… the responses among nurses and nurse leaders were uniformly energetic, with notes of relief, followed by questions.
My mantra:
- nurses need more support in todays’ work settings from nurse leaders
- nurse leaders need doable approaches that can give that support
The doable approach (briefly):
- engages nurses in conversations about caring using caring language. (These conversations reach back into our nursing history)
- these conversations are about the nurses’ experiences, less about patients (It’s OK, patients will benefit in the long run)
- uses the definitions of Caring Relationships (Halldorsdottir,1991; available in all Watson books)
- helps nurses clarify their caring experiences … as they talk through their experiences
- makes the distinction between good care and meaningful care (authentic caring)
- nurses share details of their caring- their feelings and thoughts and behaviors
- gives nurses opportunities to grow self-awareness
- nurses will not be annoyed by these inward questions; they will rarely walk away …
- nurses will respond in thoughtful ways; they know intuitively that these are real connections with themselves and their leaders
- nurse leaders will find the time for these conversations, once you experience the benefit
- nurses will have more authentic caring moments, once cultivation of their caring consciousness is palpable in their work settings
- Note – organizations are steeped in initiatives that teach nurses how to care; this is not that!
- These conversations tap into what is already there, within nurses
- These conversations feel good
You will feel good about yourself, nurses and nursing