Care as a moral attitude in nursing.
The concept of care can be explained in various ways, and it can present a different meaning to each person. Nurses are increasingly aware that good nursing care consists of 'more' than the competent performance of a number of caring activities. For many nurses it is less clear what this 'more' means and what importance it has in nursing. This article will develop a view concerning care considered as a moral attitude. It is argued that care can be considered as a foundational normative concept in the ethics of the nursing profession. The aim is to clarify that nurses do not derive their specific caring identity just from the set of tasks that they perform but also from the way in which they commit themselves to the caring process.
Gastmans
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Center for Biomedical Ethics and Law, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
D004645:Empathy; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D035863:Moral Development; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012951:Socialization