PubMed · 13801636
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E R BLOOMQUIST. 1960. A time for ... compassion.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13801636/
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Although nurses realise the importance of the family in holistic care of the patient, often they are reluctant to integrate family into the ICU environment. The family role in patient healing has been minimised. There is incongruence in nurses' assessments and families' perceptions of what constitutes caring behaviours. Traditionally ICUs have been primarily patient focused; changing to family-centred will require attitude changes and a multidisciplinary team approach to care. Studies have shown families to be stressed and at significant risk for maladaptation when acute illness or trauma strikes. Nurses potentially may alter family stress responses through caring behaviours, and a family-centred approach to care.
The doctor-patient relationship is often spoken about and is typically characterized by one of trust and compassion. However, the doctor-doctor relationship is rarely discussed openly as it is too hurtful to reveal the truth. Lack of compassion, competitiveness and even cruelty abounds in the opinion of the author who exemplifies this by some personal anecdotes and is based on 30 years as a physician. Unfortunately the lessons to be learned occur too late for most individuals. Selection of medical graduates may also play an important role in the whole malady.
It is not unusual for the adjective 'vulnerable' to be applied to those in receipt of nursing practice without making clear what it is that persons thus described are actually vulnerable to. In this paper I argue that the way nursing has adopted the idea of vulnerability tends to imply that some people are in some way invulnerable. This is conceptually unsustainable and renders the idea of the vulnerable patient (almost) meaningless. The paper explores the meaning of vulnerability both in general terms and in the context of nursing practice. It is argued that to be in receipt of nursing is to become, to a greater or lesser extent, more-than-ordinary vulnerable. Thus all patients are more-than-ordinarily vulnerable and this restricts their potential to flourish. Nurses are well placed to contribute to the flourishing of more-than-ordinarily vulnerable persons and my substantive claim is that this 'protective' function is indeed a legitimate and fundamental part of the role of nurses.