Nursing, as a profession, involves the advanced development of many different skills. Nurses not only need to be experts when it comes to the concrete scientific side of nursing (medicines and treatments), but also in the abstract side of nursing; the X-factor of nursing (caring and reflection). Relational practice is central to nursing and the development of these “X-factor skills” because it promotes an increase in the capacity to care, teaches nurses to be properly engaged in their work, and the ability to reflect effectively.
Caring is a simply word with a complex meaning, and everyone interprets what it means to care differently. Every nurse will care in a different way, but one thing is certain; everyone can improve upon their capacity to care. Relational practice increases a nurse’s capacity to care. “an aesthetic curriculum project for first-year nursing students exploring the …show more content…
Work engagement builds personal bonds with your client while maintaining a professional relationship allowing for the care for the individual to me more complete then it would be with a nurse who is disengaged from their work. Engagement not along increases the quality of care given, but maintains the ethical standards that a nurse must hold in high regard. Engagement in work is made possible and is a skilled developed through relational practice. Nursing Ethics published an article that addresses this topic. This article stated that “it is evident that work engagement enables nurses to have meaningful relationships in their work and subsequently deliver ethical care.” (Keyko, 2014 p. 879). This quote addresses the importance of a nurse being fully engaged within their work to ensure the deliverance of ethical, complete and meaningful care. It is because relational practice develops important skills such as work engagement that makes it central in the field of