untitled

1997). Sensitivity and skill in creating unique and
effective ways of communicating caring are devel-
oped through intention, experience, study, and
reflection in a broad range of human situations.

The “Caring Between”

The caring between is the source and ground of
nursing. It is the loving relation into which nurse

The caring between is the source and

ground of nursing.

and nursed enter and cocreate by living the inten-
tion to care. Without the loving relation of the car-
ing between,unidirectional activity or reciprocal
exchange can occur, but nursing in its fullest sense
does not occur. It is in the context of the caring be-
tweenthat personhood is enhanced, each express-
ing self and recognizing the other as caring person.

Lived Meaning of Nursing as Caring

Abstract presentations of assumptions and themes
lay the groundwork and provide an orienting point.
However, the lived meaning of nursing as caring
can best be understood by the study of a nursing
situation. The following poem is one nurse’s ex-
pression of the meaning of nursing, situated in one
particular experience of nursing and linked to a
general conception of nursing.

I CARE FOR HIM

My hands are moist,

My heart is quick,

My nerves are taut,

He’s in the next room,

I care for him.

The room is tense,

It’s anger-filled,

The air seems thick,

I’m with him now,

I care for him.

Time goes slowly by,

As our fears subside,

I can sense his calm,

He softens now,

I care for him.

His eyes meet mine,

Unable to speak,

I feel his trust,

I open my heart,

I care for him.

It’s time to leave.

Our bond is made,

Unspoken thoughts,

But understood,

I care for him!

—J. M. Collins (1993)

Each encounter—each nursing experience—

brings with it the unknown. In Collins’s reflections,

he shares a story of practice that illuminates the

opportunity to live and grow in caring.

In the nursing situation that inspired this poem,

the nurse and nursed live caring uniquely. Initially,

the nurse experiences the familiar human dilemma,

aware of separateness while choosing connected-

ness as he responds to a yet-unknown call for nurs-

ing: “My hands are moist/my heart is quick/my

nerves are taut...I care for him.”As he enters the

situation and encounters the patient as person, he

is able to “let go” of his presumptive knowing of the

patient as “angry.” The nurse enters with the guid-

ing perspective that all persons are caring. This al-

lows him to see past the “anger-filled” room and to

be “with him” (second stanza). As they connect

through their humanness, the beauty and whole-

ness of other is uncovered and nurtured. By living

caring moment to moment, hope emerges and fear

subsides. Through this experience, both nurse and

nursed live and grow in their understanding and

expressions of caring.

In the first stanza, the nurse prepares to enter the

nursing relationship with the formed intention of

offering caring in authentic presence. Perhaps he

has heard a report that the person he is about to en-

counter is a “difficult patient,” and this is a part of

his awareness; however, his nursing intention to

care reminds him that he and his patient are, above

all, caring persons. In the second stanza, the nurse

enters the room, experiences the challenge that his

intention to nurse has presented, and responds to

the call for authentic presence and caring: “I’m with

him now/I care for him.” Patterns of knowing are

called into play as the nurse brings together intu-

itive, personal knowing, empirical knowing, and

CHAPTER 21 Anne Boykin and Savina O. Schoenhofer’s Nursing as Caring Theory 337