Nurses who are present and are a presence make a difference for patients and their relatives every day. Presence is all about relational caring, and is basically to be understood as a qualified, efficacious way of being for patients by being with them.
In a Zuyd University of Applied Sciences knowledge clip, Elly Beurskens and Guus Timmerman explain what presence is about for nurses.
Beurskens and Timmerman introduce the concept of connecting with and attuning your practice not only to the longings and the fears of the patient, but also to his or her ‘concerns‘. For good care, a concern needs to be answered by an adequate ‘response’. It is illustrated by a case description. Beurskens and Timmerman further discuss the concept of ‘practical wisdom‘.
