When it is genuinely humanistic, nursing is an expression, a living out,
of the nurse's authentic commitment. It is an existential engagement
directed toward nurturing human potential. The humanistic nurse values
nursing as a situation in which the necessary conditions for such human
actualization exist and is open to the possibilities in the intimately
shared nurse-patient here and now. {15}
Humanistic nursing calls for an existential involvement, that is, an
active presence with the whole of the nurse's being. This involved
presence is personal and professional. It is personal--a live act
stemming from this unique, individual nurse. It is a chosen human
response freely given; it cannot be assigned or programmed. The
involvement is professional--goal directed. It is based on an
art-science; it is held accountable.
Anyone familiar with typical hectic nursing situations could justifiably
question the actual attainability of such an existential involvement. It
goes without saying that it would be humanly impossible for a nurse to
be wholly present to numerous patients for eight hours a day. But any
nurse who has experienced moments of genuine presence in the
nurse-patient situation will attest to their reality and to the fact
that it is these beautiful moments that give meaning to nursing. In
terms of actual practice, then, it is more realistic to think of
humanistic nursing as occurring in various degrees. It may be more
useful, in fact, to consider humanistic nursing a goal worth striving
for; or an attitude that strengthens one's perseverance toward attaining
the difficult goal; or fundamentally, a major value shaping one's
nursing practice.