Watsons Theory of Caring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Watsons Theory of Caring - Essay Example The fact is that when there is a sharp rise in the workload and expectations, nurses are prone to lose the caring practice they are supposed to preserve. Here, the knowledge in Jean Watson’s Caring Theory can be a useful asset to any practicing nurse. This work intends to look into the tenets of Jean Watson Caring Theory, and, at the same, I reflect on my own practice as a Registered Nurse at a long term acute facility. Dr. Jean Watson is a distinguished nursing professor form Virginia. With a PhD in educational psychology, she has received many national and international awards. The very basic elements of Jean Watson’s Caring Theory are three in numbers. According to Watson (1988), they are the carative factors, the transpersonal caring relationship, and the caring moment. The Carative Factors According to the work named ‘the theory of human caring: retrospective and prospective’ published in Nursing Science Quarterly in the year 1997 by Watson (1997), car ative factors should be considered as the guidelines towards the very basis of nursing. According to the scholar, the traditional medicine considers curative factors as the main function of nursing, and hence, she developed the term ‘carative’ factors to point out that the core of nursing is not in cure; but in care. As the scholar points out in the work, there are ten important aspects of carative factors. The very first element is humanistic and selfless system of value. It is followed by, and linked to, other aspects like faith, sensitivity to the feelings of others, showing a helping nature, showing positive feelings, showing problem-solving mentality, the tendency to teach and learn, creating an atmosphere of mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, and finally, ensuring proper assistance to human needs. The term altruism, in nursing, can be termed as taking such decisions that are in the best interest of the patient. Admittedly, with more and more modern techno logies at hand, nurses are made to take such ethical decisions that are a matter of life and death. Here, it becomes necessary for a nurse to take such decisions that respect the patient. Here, I am forced to look back into my own practice as a nurse and the instances where I got stuck in ethical dilemmas. Two years ago, I had a patient who was, in fact, a Jehovah’s Witness. It was rather necessary for him to receive blood products from others to sustain his life, but his religious beliefs did not allow him to do so. Being the person responsible to do the same, I was in a dilemma; either I could force the patient to accept the treatment, or accept his suggestion. Here, I had to report the same back to the Ethics Committee of the setting to reach a decision. There I understood the fact that in order to be altruistic, one needs to respect the cultural and personal beliefs of the patient. However, a thorough scrutiny proves that there are more important things at play here. To i llustrate, the family of a patient who is on life-sustaining treatments for no apparent benefit may be too confused and reluctant to take the decision to remove the same. In one such instance, I managed to convince the family of the patient that the ethics committee of the setting would help them to reach a decision that would be in the best interest of the patient. When the ethics committee came up with the decision to stop the life-sustaining treatment, the family was willing to cooperate as they were convinced that the decision was in their best interest. As one goes ahead, one can see that the term ‘carative’ was replaced by, or evolved into, another term ‘caritas’ as Watson modified her theory; and according to the scholar (as