Page 124 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

t h eoret ic al Fra m e w o r k F or C ar it as/c ari n g rel at i on s h i p
is in recognizing, honoring, and explicating incorporation of a caring-
communitarian ethic and ethos into our practice models that we help
sustain individual and community. Further, it is by giving expanded
attention to community relations that we bring forth our belong-
ingness, our connectedness, and our shared human conditions. It is
through this awareness and awakening that we cultivate more com-
passion, wisdom, and skills for caring and for relationships, individ-
ually and collectively. It is through this awakening that we become
agents and instruments for a moral community of caring. Thus, in this
model we are ever more leaning and learning to evolve toward a global
ethic of Caritas-Communitas as a worldview as well as a professional
relationship-centered, caring practice model—a model that invites,
inspires, and helps sustain our humanity and our world.

Practitioner-to-Practitioner Relationships
As relationship-centered caring becomes more central to health
care, and as practitioners awaken to the shift in health care from cur-
ing to healing, it becomes evident that caring-healing relationships
between and among practitioners themselves are critical. Without a
caring team that works together to promote harmony and healing
among themselves and those they serve, the entire system is affected.
Thus, the quality of relationships among all members of a health com-
munity affects the capacity of everyone within it. The ability to cre-
ate and sustain practitioner-to-practitioner relationships affects each
practitioner’s ability and conditions to care for self, patient, systems,
communities, and, ultimately, society. Forming caring-healing practi-
tioner communities allows for incorporating and honoring the diverse
yet shared knowledge, skills, and values each profession and practitio-
ner brings to the community. The practitioner-to-practitioner empha-
sis values the individual and collective talents and gifts.
Practitioner-to-practitioner relationship building begins by affirm-
ing the shared values, missions, tasks, goals, and talents of the team
(PFR 1994:35). The same caring relationship skill set and conscious-
ness are required among team members as the one needed between
patient and practitioner; that is, being present, honoring the unique
subjective world of the other, openly listening with intent to hear the

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