How do we advance the art and science of patient care?
Technological advances and artificial intelligence continue to grab headlines while clinicians’ documentation burdens mount almost daily. Is basic nursing care receding into the background? The American Nurse Journal’s editorial board considered this question during spirited discussions on the current state of nursing and patient-care delivery. They concluded that we need to shift focus back to the basics—the essentials of nursing care.
Hence, my two-part editorial. This month, I’ll tee up the issue; next month, I’ll highlight what we know about creating the environment for nursing excellence. We published content on both topics in a 2015 supplement, The Essence of Nursing: Advancing the Art and Science of Patient Care, Quality, and Safety. Ten years later, it remains relevant.
Let’s start with this question: What’s the essence of nursing? It’s what some call “high-touch” nursing, where the nurse has enough face-to-face time with patients and families to build meaningful, personal connections. Simply put, the essence of nursing is the very heart of nursing.
We all know extraordinary nurses who’ve had a significant impact on patient outcomes and the patient–family experience. But we also know cases in which nurses don’t exhibit the compassionate, competent caregiver persona they aspire to due to productivity pressures and other challenges. This dichotomy underscores my belief that nurses need to get back to the basics—to living and breathing the essence of nursing in every patient encounter.
Certain characteristics and competencies set nursing and nurses apart from other professions and practitioners. What’s distinctive about a nurse’s DNA? How does that distinction manifest when providing safe, high-quality patient care? How can nurses deliver the essence of nursing to its fullest extent? What factors or circumstances enable or prevent nurses from achieving this goal? In fast-paced, high-acuity, multidimensional, and penalty-driven healthcare delivery systems, we must find answers to these and related questions.
Among healthcare professionals, nurses spend the most time with patients and families. For this reason, I believe that presence and vigilance serve as key elements to the essence of nursing. Nurses learn about patients’ and families’ wishes, fears, capabilities, and challenges. Patients confide in them in the middle of the night, and loved ones turn to them for information, support, and solace.
Research proves that nurses with the right preparation and presence, at the right place and time, help to improve patient outcomes. In collaboration with interdisciplinary colleagues, nurses’ highly skilled, competent, compassionate care can help prevent a patient’s functional decline, eliminate knowledge deficits for the patient and family, and promote their engagement in healthcare.
We must validate and quantify nurses’ impact while recognizing their value to healthcare organizations and communities at large. Our ability to uphold the essence of nursing will make or break our efforts. My next editorial will explain how.
American Nurse Journal. 2025; 20(7). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ072504
Lillee Gelinas, DNP, RN, CPPS, FAAN
Editor-in-Chief
