The ethic of care

Abstract

Much has been said about caring or the lack thereof in the healthcare professions and an appeal has been made to all of us to rekindle a caring ethos in the healthcare services. This immediately raises the question what this is about.

At its foundational level, caring is about people – it takes place with people, for people, to people, and as people. This makes caring unique: people relate to people; one person relates to another person. Caring makes up a large part of our existence as nursing professionals, as partners, spouses, friends, children, parents and other relationships that we are involved in. Caring is not unique to nursing, but it is unique in nursing. Nursing is a practical hands-on profession where experience, emotion, affection and relationships make up the bulk of the everyday work that we do. This does not say that we do not require specialist knowledge and skills – this forms an integral part of the caring that we do everyday. A caring ethos informs the way in which we practice our specialist skills.