The Meaning of Caring In Nursing Practice

Abstract

The dynamic essence of nursing is due to caring. Unfortunately, many different terms such as care, care-giving, care receiving, nursing care, etc. are used interchangeably which promotes confusion. Thus, the concept of care can be considered one of the least understood parts of nursing. It is important to note that because there are multiple ways to define caring from different paradigms, the frame of reference is imperative to understand the definition. The purpose of this paper is to: analyze three conceptualizations of caring and discuss the relevance of incorporating theory into practice.The Meaning of Caring In Nursing Practice