Jean Watson, 7 C's Of Human Caring

While providing care as a nurse, it is important to realize it’s not just the science behind what you do that helps people heal; caring comes from the heart, not the mind. Simone Roach developed her “7 Cs of Human Caring.” This describes various caring qualities a nurse may show in his or her practice. In addition to that Jean Watson developed a theory of caring which also describe how a nurse puts forth a caring presence. Watson uses “carative factors” (Watson, 1999) to demonstrate how to put caring into practice. There are many ways nurse’s use their hearts to heal, and many ways to use these theories in practice.

The nurse client relationship is a delicate dance. It is important to develop this relationship by showing you are there to help, and can be trusted. In this story titled “Too Good for this World”

One night in a small town emergency room there was a young patient experiencing hematemesis, abdominal pain, and syncope. She was brought in by her panicked father and was placed into a single bed room. After an exhausting wait a nurse came to visit her. After apologizing for the wait she caressed the patients back and adjusted loose hair to avoid the mess. Rubbing the patient’s back to calm them down was not part of the nursing care plan. This nurse showed compassion by being there for her patient while she was suffering, similar to the story “Too Good for this World”. I was the patient this time and I can only begin to describe how one simple gesture made me feel completely cared for. My nurse’s compassion made me feel cared about more than someone simply giving me medication, or taking blood. While her intervention may not have been medical, it was greatly important to creating an environment conductive to healing. She gave me back some of the dignity I lost while my head was in a basin. This nurse showed a quality from both Roach and Watson’s theories in one