I have been participating in the Caritas Coaching Education Program sponsored by the Watson’s Caring Science Institute.
I have known deep in my nurse heart and soul that Caring Science is our true beacon.
Nursing exists within the healthcare care system. And Caring Science and the healthcare system are not congruent.
Caring Science leaders have identified the need for caring literacy and have just published a book on the subject. Global Advances in Human Caring Literacy by SM Lee, PA Palmieri, J Watson (2017).
This book does provide a light for those of us searching to understand and integrate caring science into our practice and lives. Each chapter chronicles a different nurse’s journey into caring science. It made me feel at home.
Nurses yearn to connect more often with patients on meaningful levels. Yet the healthcare environment of the hard sciences, evidenced based practice, and technology distract from what nurse caring does and what nurses want to do more of.
Shifting to a language that is more congruent with our purpose will help expand our awareness, grow our caring consciousness and honor what we do.
Rough Seas
From a high ocean cliff
A lone voice calls
With directions to safety
To a person in a small boat
Lost in rough seas
It’s hard to hear
It’s hard to see
It’s hard to navigate
Caring Science is that lone voice
Calling to nurses in the rough seas
From academic centers with grand images of nursing
That have seemingly little relevance
To their practice in today’s healthcare
Caring Language Will Put More Light on the Meaning of Nurse Caring