From Substance to Skill: Student Perspective on Caring

Background: Nursing professionals unanimously agree that caring is the professional core, reflecting its uniqueness and distinguishing it from other health professions. The perception of caring seems to be changing with time along with nursing students' perceptions of this topic. Aim: This integrative review was aimed at presenting an overview of changes in student considerations when choosing the nursing profession and relating to the caring aspect. Methods: We reviewed past literature and defined “Caring”, “Nursing”, “Nursing Career”, “Patient Care” and “Students” as their keywords on Medline, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science. There was also conducted a manual search in order to find other potentially suitable resources. Results: The findings indicate that the concept of caring continues to be ambiguous and difficult to define, and demonstrate a different approach to caring as compared to the past. Conclusion: Caring is now considered more of a skill and less of a substance. The nursing education system should give their students a pack of tools that will develop an approach that consists of extensive practical knowledge alongside a strong understanding and empathy for the patient, in order to provide human and sensitive care.