“I Am Because We Are”: Awakening Revolutionary Patient-Centered Care

Abstract

While in nursing school, I studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa to experience different perspectives and to build a socially and culturally conscious medical practice. Nursing is my second career. A decade prior to my travels in Cape Town, I was a grassroots labor organizer. My worldview was shaped by a commitment to the principle of justice long before I donned my scrubs. Justice is the the ethical principle of treating people equitably. Equality is treating everyone the same way. Some individuals or entire communities will require more support or different interventions to reach the same outcome, because of inequality. Values are not innate—they are personal, learned, taught, and shaped by experience. Values inform the choices that we make both consciously and subconsciously. Ubuntu, or “I am because we are,” is the belief that the self-interests of any individual are inextricably linked to the self-interests of all individuals. It is the belief that our individual existence is validated by our connection to each other. Collaborative, patient-centered care approaches and the philosophy of Ubuntu are deeply rooted in Humanism. Nicole C. Blais is Emergency Nurse, Middlesex Hospital, Marlborough, CT.