Meaning of Nursing

Meaning of Nursing
Jaymica Rose L. Dacquil
Saint Paul University Philippines

Meaning of Nursing

1
Abstract

Nursing is variously described as a profession, a discipline, an occupation. Throughout time,

there are various definitions, perceptions and theories of nursing emerging and defined by
different nursing theorists, nurse scholars and authors. In this paper, a review of literature from
several disciplines revealed the different definitions of nursing and nursology and the real
essence of nursing. It is revealed that nursing promotes health, prevents illness and rehabilitates
not just the sick and aged, but also to the well people. Caring is also discussed as the real essence
of nursing and it is an important behavior that disciplining a nurses act and teach them
commitment to win the patient and their significant other trust. It promotes the healing process,
prevents further illness, prolongs and saves lives. An overview of Patterson & Zderads theory in
nursology was discussed. The purpose of this paper is to compare and discuss the meaning of
nursing, its essence and the meaning of nursology from my personal definition to theorist and
authors definition. A synthesis of the literature will be discussed first, then a comparison
thereafter.

Meaning of Nursing

1
Definition of Nursing

For the past years, there have been many different definitions and perceptions of what
nursing really means. Some negative perceptions have been related to gender stereotyping, low
academic standards, poor pay, and poor working conditions. Additionally, the media often
portrays nurses as sex objects that are submissive to the doctors. Yet on the positive side, nursing
has also been perceived as a caring, nurturing and compassionate profession that requires a great
deal of physical and emotional strength, patience, and knowledge.
Nursing is a profession with a specialized body of knowledge that draws from the social,
the behavioral and the physical sciences. Nursing is a unique profession because it addresses
responses of individuals and families to health promotion, health maintenance and health
problems. There are many philosophies and definitions of nursing.
According to Florence Nightingale, she defined nursing as the act of utilizing the
environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery (Nightingale 1969 (1860)). Nightingale
considered a clean, well-ventilated and quiet environment essential for recovery. Often
considered the first nurse theorist, Nightingale raised the status of nursing through education.
Nurses were no longer untrained housekeepers but people educated in the care of the sick
(Berman et al, 2012).
Virginia Henderson was one of the first modern nurses to define nursing. The definition
she posed in 1966 was adopted by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in 1973 and still
holds wide appeal in the nursing profession. According to her, she defined nursing as assisting
the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health, its
recovery, promoting quality of life or to a peaceful death that the client would perform unaided if
he or she had the necessary strength, will or knowledge. (Henderson, in Crisp & Taylor, 2009)

Meaning of Nursing

In 2002 the ICN updated the definition of nursing: Nursing encompasses autonomous and
collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well, and
in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of the
ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research,
participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and
education are also key nursing roles. (ICN, 2002)
According to American Nurses Association, nursing is the protection, promotion, and
optimization of health and abilities; prevention of illness and injury; alleviation of suffering
through the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential helath problems;
and advocacy in health care for individuals, families, communities, and populations. (ANA,
2012). This definition had a widespread effect, and we see its application in the language used in
nursing diagnoses today.
However, my personal definition of nursing is giving quality health care (physically,
emotionally, spiritually) not just to the sick and aged, but to those who are well. It is also the
promotion of health and prevention of illness. Nurses prolong life and nurture health of
individuals, families and communities. Nursing includes assessing the patient, planning,
implementing and evaluating the care they have provided.
Essence of Nursing
Nursing, perhaps more than any other health care profession, claims caring as
fundamental to its practice. A large number of people consider caring as one of essential aspects
of nursing, to be precise, caring is a necessary component of nursing.
Caring is a central element of nursing practice (Potter & Perry, 2001). Leininger (2001)
and Watson (1994) developed nursing theories that espouse the primacy of caring in nursing.

Meaning of Nursing

Madeleine Leininger subscribed to the central tenet that care is the essence of nursing and the
central, dominant, and unifying focus of nursing (Leininger 1991). Nightingale (1859) wrote
that nursings most important work is caring. Despite the wealth of ground covered in these
works the term care, is rarely defined as a theoretical concept in its own right and is often used
interchangeably with the term nursing (Gaut, 1983). Caring is the central and unifying focus of
the nursing profession. Leininger defines care/caring as those assistive, supportive, or facilitative
acts toward another individual with evident needs to improve their condition. This view of caring
as an act of doing something to help a person is shared by other authors and theorists, too. Caring
is a difficult topic to define as it is the feeling that display concern, empathy in satisfying the
physical, psychological, spiritual, cultural, social and emotional needs. Caring in the nursing
profession happens when a nurse have contact with a patient with hope and commitment as the
important parts. This can be achieved by being compassionate, loving, kind, warm, sensitive,
sympathetic, responsive, and considerate to others. (Welch & Leininger, 2002). Watson another
highly reputed and recognized researcher in the nursing field also makes a concept of caring as
the correct and most appropriate ultimate of nursing. This simple definition connects to the
aforementioned definition and has connections with that of individual center care that
accentuates on the importance of sensitivity-treating patients as persons and participating in
making of decisions. Benner, Tanner and Chesla (1996) also affirmed that caring is a primary
function of the nurse in their study of expertise in nursing. The American Nurses Association
(ANA) (2003) stated that an essential feature of professional nursing is the provision of a caring
relationship that facilitates health and healing. Yet nursing, as one of a multitude of health care
professions, does not have a monopoly on caring. Physicians, pharmacists, physical therapists,
and occupational therapists all have references to caring in their literature (Fjortoft & Zgarrick,
2003; McLeod, 2003; Ries, 2003; Sachs & Labovitz, 1994; Stiller, 2000; Wright & Carrese,

Meaning of Nursing

2001; Wright-St. Clair, 2001). Jean Watson views caring as the most valuable attribute nursing
has to offer to humanity, yet caring has received less emphasis than other aspects of nursing over
time. She believes that the disease might be cured but illness would still remain because without
caring, health is not fully attained. Caring is the essence of nursing and it connotes
responsiveness between the nurse and the patient (Watson, 2006). Valentine (1997) has suggested
that caring is a multidimensional concept that consists of attributes of the nurse including
professional knowledge, vigilance, and therapeutic communication. Knowledge and
communication are required elements in the practice of all health professionals. We submit,
therefore, that professional vigilance is the essence of caring in nursing, and, as such, defines the
key role of nursing within the health care system.
In my personal opinion, the essence of nursing is giving quality care a patient deserves.
Helping patients in all possible way for them to recover faster. Nursing is never an easy job. You
give selfless services to your patients to attain their optimal health; nurses skip their meals just to
give the medications on time. They hold their pee just to take the patients vital signs. They stay
wide-awake just to attend to patients concerns and needs.
Nursology
According to Mosby (2009), nursology is a conceptual framework for the study and
practice of nursing. It requires the nurse to interact with the patient in an authentic way,
without aloofness and the distance of professionalism; the nurse must take the risk of caring. As
a method, nursology requires that the nurse cut through the defenses and fears that prevent selkknowledge. The nurse tries to know the patient on an intuitive, subjective level and then, using
reflection, on an objective, scientific level. The nurse recognizes that each person has an angular
view of the whole truth. Comparison of the views of others is necessary for a perspective that
allows a synthesis, often paradoxic but closer to the truth than anyone persons angular view.

Meaning of Nursing

Nursology is intended to provide a model for nursing methods and research. The nurse and the
patient have the opportunity to grow, and the science of nursing may emerge from the angular
investigations and syntheses. Paterson and Zderad (1976) defined nursology as the study of
nursing aimed toward the development of nursing theory. Paterson and Zderad proposed the
humanistic nursing model that has its own phenomenological method for describing lived
experiences. The authors call their approach phenomenological nursology. According to them,
phenomenological nursology is a medium through which concept and theory development can
take place. Phenomenologic nursology is comprised of fived phases. The first four phases
involve assessment and the final phase is analogous to nursing diagnosis. The lived experiences
as viewed by the patient unfolds through the therapeutic relationship itself. The phases are
identified as follows (Patterson & Zderad, 1976, pp 144 - 146): Preparation of the nurse knower
for coming to know (the patient). This could be accomplished by the total immersion in selected
and related literary work. Immersion includes reflecting, contemplating, and discussing. Second,
the nurse knowing the other (the patient) intuitively by seeing the world through the eyes of the
subject or the patient, becoming an insider rather than outsider. Third, nurse knowing the other
(the patient) scientifically by replaying the subjective experiences, reflecting on them, and
transcribing the amalgated view. The nurse considers relationships and analyzes, synthesizes, and
then conceptualizes. Then, the nurse complementarily synthesizing known others and succession
within the nurse from the many to the paradoxical one (conclusion). The term nursology also
appeared in the European nursing literature in the mid-70s. Roper, a nurse theorist from
Scotland, argued for the development of a science of nursing labeled nursology, so that nursing
as a discipline might best describe its characteristic mode of thinking. She asserted that this label
would help the scientific nursing community to think nursologically, thus distinguishing between

Meaning of Nursing

the practice of nursing, the professional doing of the work of nursing, and the science of nursing,
or the study of nursing practice (Roper, 1976).
My personal definition of nursology is the science and art of nursing.
Discussion and Conclusion
In summary, the definitions mentioned are similar to my personal definition of what
nursing is. It incorporates the key concepts contained in many other definitions of nursing; a
focus on health not merely on sickness, a clientele that includes people of all ages in all settings,
as individuals, families and communities, the promotion of health, prevention of illness and
rehabilitation of the sick, assessing the patient, planning, implementing and evaluating the care
they have provided. It is important to remember that no single definition aforementioned holds
true for all nurses. Trying to capture the meaning accurately is perhaps almost as difficult as
trying to define love because it is interpreted in many ways (Manhart Barrett, 2002, p. 51). Also,
they all agreed that caring is the real essence and a vital component of nursing practice. The
notion of caring in nursing has been a given throughout its history. In the past years, caring has
been acknowledged as the essence and core of professional nursing. This focus is evident in
nursing practice, nursing theories, nursing curricula, and nursings philosophical and ethical
perspective toward humanity and patient caring relationships. Nursology, from the different
definitions mentioned, it can simply be alleged that it is a conceptual framework for the practice
of nursing and it is not merely the science and art of nursing.

Meaning of Nursing

1
References

Kozier B., Erb G., Berman A., Snyder, S. (2004). The Nature of Nursing, Fundamentals of
Nursing: Concepts, Process and Practice, Second Edition, p.38
International Council of Nurses, (2002). The ICN definition of nursing. Geneva: ICN. Retrieved
from http://www.icn.ch/about-icn/icn-definition-of-nursing/
AJN, American Journal of Nursing (1971, April). Caring is the essence of Practice, Vol. 71, Issue
4, p. 704-707
Meyer, G., Lavin, M.A. (June 23, 2005). "Vigilance: The Essence of Nursing".OJIN: The Online
Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol 10 No 1.
Valentine, K.L. (1997). Exploration of the relationship between caring and cost. Holistic Nursing
Practice, 11(4), 71-81.
Watson, J. (Ed.). (1994). Applying the art and science of human caring. New York: National
League for Nursing Press.
Lea, A., Watson, R. & Deary, I. (1998). Caring in nursing: a multivariate analysis. Journal of
advanced nursing, 28.3, p. 662-671.
Leininger, M. (1984). Care: the essence of nursing and health. New Jersey: Slack.
Mosby. Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. 2009, Elsevier.
Cody, W., Kenney, J. (2006). Humanistic nursing model describes lived experiences.
Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives for Advanced Nursing Practice, p. 233