Understanding Care: Introductory Remarks

Abstract

"Care" is without doubt among the most important concepts in healthcare. The very word "healthcare" bears witness to this fact, indicating what the healthcare system as a whole and the individual actions taking place within healthcare are all about-namely, to provide care. The concept of care plays an important role for the professional identity of caregivers, and it is part of the expectation of care receivers. This can easily be forgotten given that in public and academic discourse, issues such as costs, prevention, the just distribution of scarce resources and the patient's personal responsibility often figure more prominently than care.Care is not only a descriptive concept, it also conveys a normative orientation. The term "care" enables one to evaluate different courses of action in healthcare. What is more, different courses of action can correspond more or less closely to what one perceives as good care. As there are standards and guidelines for and best practices of good care, care providers can ask themselves whether what they do constitutes good care. The question of whether the healthcare system as a whole as well as specific

Ethical questioning in arts and health-based research: propositions and reflections

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