NURSES: CARING FOR OWN FAMILIES

Salma Rattani* RNRM, BScN & Saleemah Pirani* RNRM, BScN
Aga Khan University School Of Nursing Karachi, Pakistan

"Its worth having a nurse in the family" said by a person who witnessed a nurse giving Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to her father in cardiac arrest at home. Receiving such comments in a social gathering boosts up an individual's morale. In addition, it highlights the image of nurses in a given society,

Family is the basic unit of the society & caring for family begins from home where members of the family care for each other in their own ways. For instance parents show their love & care for their children by providing them with good living conditions. Whereas, children show their love & care by fulfilling their parents expectations. Barker narrates this concept of caring as cited in Gaut, (1993), Smith et al., (1998), "Caring is a way of acting that demonstrates that people, relationships & the issues connected to them are important".

Caring for families is a central focus of Nursing. Based on observations collected over years & personal experiences shared by few nurses/nursing students, this paper is going to discuss few situation where nurses used their knowledge & skills in h&ling the health care problems successfully at home, as it is the prime responsibility of a nurse to provide care & support for family members in times of health & illness.