The nurses' touch: An irreplaceable component of caring

Abstract

Background: Touch is an integral part of human interaction. Health care makes significant use of touch, and for most healthcare professionals, it is indispensable to their practice. An essential and inevitable facet of the nursing profession is the touching of patients during the provision of care. Unfortunately, touch is seldom considered in the nursing framework today. Aims: To emphasize the importance of touch in contemporary nursing practice in a highly technological environment. Materials and methods: A search was conducted on February–May 2022. The initial search identified 84 articles and the final analysis included 38 articles that met the inclusion criteria (touch; touch in health care; touch and nursing; touch and technology; nursing and technology; nursing and caring; touch and caring). Results: The nurses' touch will always be an irreplaceable component of caring in nursing. Discussion: There can be no substitute to the expressive touch of a nurse. As the technological revolution in nursing is inevitable, it is imperative that nurses consider how much these technologies impact the nurse–patient relationships. Conclusion: The study emphasized the importance of touch in contemporary nursing practice. The study found that the nurses' touch will always be an irreplaceable component of caring in nursing. The finding will have an impact on nurses and patients situated in highly technological healthcare environments.