Abstract
At the paediatric nursing congress in Athens, two keynote speakers discussed the importance of nurses being a caring presence for children and parents. More recently, at a mental health conference in Dublin, I heard Phil Barker (Professor of Psychiatric Nursing Practice) warn about nurses ‘backing out of caring into doctoring’ and of the importance of nurses’ responsibility to provide comfort and compassion. I had déjà vu, as I recalled 10 years ago hearing Patricia Benner speak passionately of the need for nurses to provide a caring human presence and warning of the danger of them discarding this aspect of their role in the pursuit of professionalism. This led me to think, why do respected nursing leaders from different disciplines and different countries feel the need to remind us of the importance of caring? Is this not an essential aspect of nurses’ role which they perform daily?
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