5/19/2023 0 Comments Hospice nurse reveals phenomena![]() ![]() ![]() In relation to nursing care, ontological competence is to meet the universal changes in both patients and oneself ( Watson, 2004). The nurse faces her own humanity and a personal in-depth understanding of life may emerge ( Thorup et al., 2012 Watson, 2004). When nurses witness suffering, the patient and nurse are linked together in existential and ontological universality. The professional “use of self” may represent the most significant potential for developing an in-depth understanding of one’s life ( Todres, Galvin, & Dahlberg, 2014 Watson, 2004). Thus, although the encounter between nurses and patients is an asymmetrical relationship from an existential point of view, it can in some ways be seen as a symmetrical relationship, since both parties are affected ( Delmar, 2012 Watson, 2002). Studies report that encountering the vulnerability of patients and relatives actualizes the vulnerability of care providers ( Moen, 2016 Thorup et al., 2012). Professional identity is constantly formed through one’s career ( Moen, 2016 Ramvi, 2015). Nurses have to bring “their own essence” into caring, requiring nurses to first find themselves and know themselves before they can aspire to know others ( de Almeida et al., 2014). In brief, to be able to alleviate suffering for end-of-life patients, nurses should be sincere and authentic ( de Almeida, Sales, & Marcon, 2014 Hov, Athlin, & Hedelin, 2009). They try to create good relationships, listen to the unsaid, while being compassionate, communicative and showing empathy and sensitivity. Nurses experience existential challenges in their encounters with suffering patients. They can experience stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue ( Sansó et al., 2015 Vandrevala et al., 2017). Nurses experience greater demands on their competence, such as enhancing different aspects of their communication skills and their knowledge about end-of–life situations. Some literature argues that working closely with end-of-life patients can place a heavy burden on nurses, but can also be an enriching experience ( Karlsson, Kasén, & Wärnå-Furu, 2017 Moen, 2016).Ī person’s encounter with death may provide new and enhanced awareness and understanding of self ( Molzahn, 2007 Yalom, 2008). The process of becoming will be elaborated on later in the article, but briefly the concept is connected to the realization of a nurse’s potential, his/her experience of a deeper wholeness through the unity of body, soul, and spirit ( Eriksson, 2010). In this study, we try to gain insight into how working closely to suffering and end-of-life patients affects nurses at an existential level.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |