Some Thoughts on Nursing

The core concept of nursing is care; although caring is a universal concept and a component of the philosophies guiding the practice of all health and caring professions. Human beings learn to care bybeing cared by other people. In primitive societies there was not a clear distinction between healer and carer. However, caring, healing, and curing include a meaning of getting control over and expressing power upon people who are receiving care. That was a crucial point for the separation of caring from healing and curing. Nursing evolved from the mother's role and is frequently identified in people's perception more as a woman's duty than a job. Nursing continues to struggle to overcome the stereotypes held for centuries. However, as nursing is maturing as a science, an emphasis on the meaning of care and the approach of nursing as a purely caring science is apparent in many scientific nursing books and papers. Caring is evolving as a new paradigm for nursing, as the profession seeks its rightful place in the modern societies.