Care concept in medical and nursing students’ descriptions – Philosophical approach and implications for medical education

Journal Title: Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine - Year 2014, Vol 21, Issue 4

Abstract

[b]introduction.[/b] Care is seen as something that is peculiar to the medical sciences but its meaning and status for physicians and nurses differs. objectives. The aim of this research was to learn how nursing and medical students understand and define care, and how their definition and views on their practice of caring change as they advance through their studies. [b]material and methods[/b]. The study was conducted among two groups of students: before and after their first practicum (n=102). Analysis of the students’ answers was carried out using Colaizzi’s phenomenological descriptive methodology, which means that a qualitative approach was used. [b]results[/b]. The qualitative analysis shows that the medical and nursing students define care in the same way, using 9 main categories: compassion, commitment, competence, confidence, conscience, communication, patience, courage and support. The nursing students viewed their caring to be within both practical and emotional dimensions and this was a core feature of their identity as nurses. Medical students, on the other hand, viewed the practical dimension of care as an additional activity. All the students in the study underlined the importance of having time to care and showed that, for them, ‘time’ in this context has a moral meaning. What was interesting to the research team centered on the initial attitudes to ‘caring’ from both medical and nursing students. [b]conclusions[/b]. We found that students of both nursing and medicine do not begin their studies with different attitudes and concepts of care. However, after their initial exposure to practical placements a process begins which forges different identities around the concept of care. This implies trends in the division of professional roles during their initial education.

Authors and Affiliations

Beata Dobrowolska, Barbara Ślusarska, Danuta Zarzycka, Ian McGonagle, Jakub Pawlikowski, Tomasz Cuber

Keywords

Related Articles

In vitro evaluation of the effect of tobacco smoke on rat cornea function

The influence of tobacco smoke on the dielectric properties of rat cornea were measured[i] in vitro[/i] over the frequency range of the electric field of 500Hz–100kHz and in temperatures of the air from 25 to 150°C. The...

Various aspects of physical activity among Lithuanian adolescents

Studies of the physical activity of 17-year-old adolescents attending selected schools in Lithuania were conducted in 2010 with the use of the IPAQ. The adolescents differed with respect to the scope of leisure time poss...

Trends of potential years of life lost due to main causes of deaths in urban and rural population in Poland, 2002–2011

The aim of the study was to analyse the level and the trends of Potential Years of Life Lost due to main causes of deaths in Poland in 2002–2011, with consideration of place of residence, urban-rural. The material for th...

Antimicrobial activity of two essential oils.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of essential oils in vitro for possible application to reduce the content of microorganisms in the air of animal houses. The essential oils of Cymbopogon ci...

Preliminary assessment of usefulness of cELISA test for screening pig and cattle populations for presence of antibodies against [i]Toxoplasma gondii[/i]

Serology testing is an appropriate method for the detection of slaughter animals infected with [i]Toxoplasma[/i], which remain one of the main reservoirs of this parasite in the environment. Competitive ELISA (cELISA) in...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP80894
  • DOI -
  • Views 148
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Beata Dobrowolska, Barbara Ślusarska, Danuta Zarzycka, Ian McGonagle, Jakub Pawlikowski, Tomasz Cuber (2014). Care concept in medical and nursing students’ descriptions – Philosophical approach and implications for medical education. Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine, 21(4), 854-860. https://www.europub.co.uk/articles/-A-80894