title: Caring. Core value, currency, and commodity ... is it time to get tough about "soft"?
abstract: Consumers of health care expect caring behaviors and become satisfied and loyal customers when their health experience included caring. In today's health care environment, however, caring often takes a back seat to task completion and capital expenditures. Caregivers may feel caring, but they often provide care without regard for how patients prefer to experience caring. Caring theorists provide a framework of patient centered caring to guide professional practice. Stories of caring that occur in spite of diminished resources are inspirational and illustrate these theories. Chief nursing officers share a unique opportunity and imperative to assure that caring stories, the essence of our work, routinely inform decisions made in the executive suite and boardroom.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D004645:Empathy; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009742:Nursing Theory; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012945:Social Values