Teaching and Learning in Nursing 13 (2018) A11–A12
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Teaching and Learning in Nursing
journal homepage: www.jtln.org
Editorial
Family, Nursing, and Nursing Education
Ask any nurse to share an experience that included both patient over the years as a way of thinking about and working with families
and family, and given time to listen, you will be surprised with the (Kaakinen et al., 2018). The point being emphasized here and the
number of stories a nurse will share with you. A 45-year veteran, I message in this article is that client care requires consideration of
have many such stories but will share a brief experience dating family.
back to my introduction to family. Enrolled in obstetrical nursing (a
term seldom used these days), I assisted with the delivery of a
newborn. Preparing to transport the baby to the nursery (a term Nursing
replaced with mother–baby care), a senior nurse shouted to me
loudly, “You never separate the baby from the mother.” Although I Historically, nurses have always cared for the family. With roots
did not become a labor and delivery nurse, nor do I remember the dating back to the Civil War, care for soldiers, ill family members,
actions that triggered the comment, what I do know is that many and childbirth was the responsibility of women. The ushering in of
years later as a registered nurse, I have not lost sight of the value of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s and the development of nurs-
family. Fast forward, 45 years later, and in the midst of a heated ing as a profession were factors seen in the migration of families liv-
debate on family separation, I value the comment, regardless of the ing in rural areas to the populated urban areas of the city. It was
tone it was delivered, and have developed a deep appreciation for during this time that nursing care that once focused on individual
family unity and its ties to nursing and nursing education. care shifted from the home to institutional and hospital settings.
Hence, care delivered in the hospital setting was dominated by rigid
policies and procedures that, with the best of intentions, supported
Family individual patient care with less attention given to input of family.
In more recent years we have seen a paradigmatic shift with health
Having practiced nursing and in teaching nursing at the care returning to the community and family home. Outcomes of
undergraduate and graduate levels, what I learned is that health this shift can be seen in the growth and proliferation of research
care is organized around the individual client without consideration and theories that have shaped our current understanding of how ill-
of the family. This observation became relevant to me when I ness and stress affects the family unit and how the absence of family
transitioned from hospital-based nursing to nursing as a home care members can affect the health and well-being of the individual client
and hospice nurse. Years of practice in these settings generated being cared for.
many questions that I did not consider as a hospital-based nurse.
Often visiting clients confined to bed, there were many questions I
pondered over before and after the home visit. For example, who Nursing Education
will meet and greet me at the door when making a home care visit?
Who will serve as family spokesperson when providing hospice As an academic nurse educator, I have learned over the years
care to a patient receiving end-of-life care? Who among the family that it is difficult teaching nursing without addressing the role of
members will assume responsibility for managing an infusion pump family in meeting the health needs of individual family members.
in my absence? Answers to these questions required stepping back Simply put, regardless of the side of the federal debate you are on,
and understanding family and family nursing. Interestingly, I vaguely the content we teach in nursing does not support family separa-
remember studying these terms as an undergraduate nursing tion. Courses in maternal child-health, nursing of children, mental
student. My understanding of family came years later as a practicing health nursing, adult health and illness, and community-based
nurse. By definition, family is defined as individuals who depend nursing are facilitated in didactic and clinical formats with goals
on one another for emotional, physical, and economic support directed to restoring health so that the individual client is cared
(Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, & Robinson, 2018). In contrast, family for with the intent of returning home in the care and support by
nursing has come to denote an art and science that has evolved family and the surrounding community.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2018.06.009
1557-3087/© 2018 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Teaching and Learning in Nursing
journal homepage: www.jtln.org
Editorial
Family, Nursing, and Nursing Education
Ask any nurse to share an experience that included both patient over the years as a way of thinking about and working with families
and family, and given time to listen, you will be surprised with the (Kaakinen et al., 2018). The point being emphasized here and the
number of stories a nurse will share with you. A 45-year veteran, I message in this article is that client care requires consideration of
have many such stories but will share a brief experience dating family.
back to my introduction to family. Enrolled in obstetrical nursing (a
term seldom used these days), I assisted with the delivery of a
newborn. Preparing to transport the baby to the nursery (a term Nursing
replaced with mother–baby care), a senior nurse shouted to me
loudly, “You never separate the baby from the mother.” Although I Historically, nurses have always cared for the family. With roots
did not become a labor and delivery nurse, nor do I remember the dating back to the Civil War, care for soldiers, ill family members,
actions that triggered the comment, what I do know is that many and childbirth was the responsibility of women. The ushering in of
years later as a registered nurse, I have not lost sight of the value of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s and the development of nurs-
family. Fast forward, 45 years later, and in the midst of a heated ing as a profession were factors seen in the migration of families liv-
debate on family separation, I value the comment, regardless of the ing in rural areas to the populated urban areas of the city. It was
tone it was delivered, and have developed a deep appreciation for during this time that nursing care that once focused on individual
family unity and its ties to nursing and nursing education. care shifted from the home to institutional and hospital settings.
Hence, care delivered in the hospital setting was dominated by rigid
policies and procedures that, with the best of intentions, supported
Family individual patient care with less attention given to input of family.
In more recent years we have seen a paradigmatic shift with health
Having practiced nursing and in teaching nursing at the care returning to the community and family home. Outcomes of
undergraduate and graduate levels, what I learned is that health this shift can be seen in the growth and proliferation of research
care is organized around the individual client without consideration and theories that have shaped our current understanding of how ill-
of the family. This observation became relevant to me when I ness and stress affects the family unit and how the absence of family
transitioned from hospital-based nursing to nursing as a home care members can affect the health and well-being of the individual client
and hospice nurse. Years of practice in these settings generated being cared for.
many questions that I did not consider as a hospital-based nurse.
Often visiting clients confined to bed, there were many questions I
pondered over before and after the home visit. For example, who Nursing Education
will meet and greet me at the door when making a home care visit?
Who will serve as family spokesperson when providing hospice As an academic nurse educator, I have learned over the years
care to a patient receiving end-of-life care? Who among the family that it is difficult teaching nursing without addressing the role of
members will assume responsibility for managing an infusion pump family in meeting the health needs of individual family members.
in my absence? Answers to these questions required stepping back Simply put, regardless of the side of the federal debate you are on,
and understanding family and family nursing. Interestingly, I vaguely the content we teach in nursing does not support family separa-
remember studying these terms as an undergraduate nursing tion. Courses in maternal child-health, nursing of children, mental
student. My understanding of family came years later as a practicing health nursing, adult health and illness, and community-based
nurse. By definition, family is defined as individuals who depend nursing are facilitated in didactic and clinical formats with goals
on one another for emotional, physical, and economic support directed to restoring health so that the individual client is cared
(Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, & Robinson, 2018). In contrast, family for with the intent of returning home in the care and support by
nursing has come to denote an art and science that has evolved family and the surrounding community.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2018.06.009
1557-3087/© 2018 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
