individually formulated their own knowledge base
and expanded their angular view. As Dr. Paterson
and Dr. Zderad proposed, “each person might be
viewed as a community of the beings with whom
she has meaningfully related” (1978, p. 45) and has
a potential resource for expanding herself as a
“knowing place.”
Through openness and sharing we were able to
differentiate our strengths. Once the members
could truly appreciate the unique competence of
one another, they were able to reflect that apprecia-
tion back. Through this reflection, members began
to internalize and then project a competent image
of themselves. They learned that this positive mir-
roring did not have to come from outsiders. They
can reflect back to one another the image of com-
petence and power. They, as a community of
nurses, can empower one another. This reciprocity
is a self-enhancing process, for “the degree to which
I can create relationships which facilitate the
growth of others as separate persons is a measure of
the growth I have achieved in myself ” (Rogers,
1976, p. 79). And so by sharing in our community
of nurses we can empower one another through
mutual confirmation as we help one another move
toward a center that is nursing. We as nurses strive
to do this with our patients. We as nurses must also
strive to do this for one another and the profession
of nursing.
Today I perceive another call. This call is re-
sounded in and exemplified by the following
description of examining a pregnant woman:
“Instead of having to approach the woman
...to feel her breathing, you could now read
the information [on her and her fetus] from
across the room, from down the hall”
(Rothman, 1987, p. 28).
The call I hear is for nursing. It is the call
from humanity to maintain the humanness
in the health-care system, which is becoming
increasingly sophisticated in technology, in-
creasingly concerned with cost containment,
and increasingly less aware of and concerned
with the patient as a human being. The con-text of Humanistic Nursing Theory is hu-
mans. The basic question it asks of nursing
practice is: Is this particular intersubjective-
transactional nursing event humanizing or
dehumanizing? Nurses as clinicians, teachers,
researchers, and administrators can use the
concepts and process of Humanistic Nursing
Theory to gain a better understanding of the
“calls” we are hearing. Through this under-
standing we are given direction for expand-
ing ourselves as “knowing places” so that we
can fulfill our reason for being, which, ac-
cording to Humanistic Nursing Theory, is
nurturing the well-being and more-being of
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