Page 135 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

c h a p t e r t e n

From Carative FaCtor 6: Systematic Use of the Scientific
Problem-Solving Method for Decision Making
to Caritas ProCess 6: Creative Use of Self and All Ways of
Knowing as Part of the Caring Process; Engage in the Artistry of
Caritas Nursing

Professional nursing involves systematic logic, along with imagina-
tion and creativity. The nursing process is acknowledged as a sys-
tematic process that guides nurses’ decision making. However, it
is important to acknowledge that a more expanded Caring/Caritas
Process is not a systematic, linear process as it is often made out to
be and as originally presented in my 1979 book. Indeed, of all the
Carative Factors in the original book, this one has changed the most
during my growth, maturity, and evolution over the years. In 1979 I
had just completed my PhD—I was idealistic, naive, and enamored
with research and scientific methods as the basis for advancing nurs-
ing science and practice. The evolved Caritas Nurse celebrates the
caring process as a creative, intuitive, aesthetic, ethical, personal,
even spiritual process, as well as a professional empirical-technical
process.

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