The Socio-Politics of Technology and Innovation: Problematizing the ‘Caring’ in Healthcare?

Caring as a Scripted Discourse versus Caring as an Expression of an Authentic Relationship between Self and Other

“…Years of associating nurses and caring have established the nurse as the iconic representation of caring (Reverby, 1987(Reverby, /2008, which is sometimes assumed to be an inherent trait. Nurses do not always manifest caring (Cowin & Johnson, 2011), neither do patients and families always experience caring from the nurses' actions (Aranda & Jones, 2010;Bradley & Falk-Rafael, 2011;Weisstein, 2006;) just as employers do not always recognize caring by nurses as a skill rather than a taken-for-granted trait (Adams & Nelson, 2009;Apesoa-Varano, 2007;Coughlan, 2006;Glenn, 2000).…”

“…Although health care facilities highlight caring nurses in their marketing strategies to attract consumers and prospective health workers (Berkowitz, 2010), overextended staff nurses lack time to do the little things that matter to patients (Coughlan, 2006;Pearcey, 2010;Severinsson & Kamaker, 1999), things perceived as an indication that the nurse is caring. As the traditional niceties associated with caring in health care facilities have been traded for efficiency and bottom lines, patient satisfaction scores have declined.…”