Nursing: Image In Conversation

Abstract

Over the last decade there has been a great deal of literature written by nurses about nursing. In the interview presented here, an "outsider" looks at nursing. As part of a graduate seminar series, Dr. Helen Simmons, a specialist in human development and a mental health consultant with the Edmonton Board of Health, was interviewed by Dr. Shirley Stinson, Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta. Dr. Simmons has worked with public health nurses for the last ten years as a consultant and educator. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Alberta Faculty of Nursing. Stinson: In your view of the professions, what if anything is unique about nursing? Simmons: The particular kind of 'caring' orientation, and caring over time What is unique about nursing is that caring is the main job, the central and fundamental focus of nursing.1 Let's put it another way, from the standpoint of the philosophical question, "By virtue of what characteristics would one determine that something is anything?" Amongst the professions, it is into nursing that one would look to demonstrate the characteristics by virtue of which any act could be identified as caring.