Page 158 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

Fr om carative Fa c t o r 8 t o C ar it as ProC e s s 8
• Give attention to the patient’s position and frequently change
that position.
• Make the bed safe, comfortable, clean, and attractive (see the
“Zen of Bed-Making” in Watson 1999:237–240).
• Relieve muscle or emotional tension with massage, breath work,
range-of-motion exercise, back rub, therapeutic touch, use of
music, sound, visualization-relaxation approaches, use of aroma-
therapy, other nursing arts, energy therapies.
• Perform therapeutic nursing procedures (apply warm moist
packs, warm bath, administer prescribed pain-relieving medica-
tions with affirmative statements, inhalation exercises, provide
helpful information, and so on).
• Identify the implications and meaning of the illness and condi-
tion for the patient, and draw upon multiple available, creative
resources for support, protection; prepare patient for what to
anticipate; increase self-control, self-caring, self-knowledge, and
self-generating responses for choices, alternatives.
• Engage in combination of any and all Carative Factors/Caritas
Processes to best meet the patient’s needs for a healing environ-
ment and comfort, drawing upon multiple creative ways of
problem solving congruent with patient’s needs and professional
caring practices.
In addition to these specific examples, the Caritas Nurse can utilize
numerous other techniques: sitting with patient and family members,
rearranging the patient’s room, placing the bed properly, providing a
view of nature, closing or opening the window, listening to patient,
contacting family members, and so on. Nightingale identified these
methods and more in her timeless treatise on nursing (1969).
Another deeper level of considering comfort involves controlling
pain and human suffering, which are very subjective and affected by
the patient’s experience, belief system, and the meaning of the pain—
including spiritual and cultural meanings and associations with respect
to pain and suffering generally. This focus of concern is a separate area
that requires full-time attention.
For our purposes here, it is important to emphasize that the nurse’s
appreciation of, respect for, and acknowledgment of the spiritual and

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