'Responding' denotes the character and timeliness of nursing staff's responses to patient requests or symptoms. 'Explaining' denotes the informal but essential explanations given by nurses. Seeing the individual explains the unique nature of the nursing care experience for each patient. A study to discover patients' perceptions of the nursing care they receive in a hospital setting using the Grounded theory method in eight medical-surgical patients recently discharged from an academic medical centre in the south-eastern United States of America has identified four categories of patient perceptions of their nursing care, namely, Seeing the individual patient, Explaining, Responding and Watching over. Patient satisfaction with nursing care is an indicator of quality care. There are also people both male and female who are of the view that men have no business working in the field of nursing due to lack of capacity to care compared to a woman. The public perceive a nurse as just someone who assists the doctor during and after treatment of the illness assisting the patient in keeping up his personal hygiene, giving the medications as prescribed by the doctor, dressing the wounds when there is a need ensuring the welfare of the patient. They know that a caring nurse can give comfort and solace to someone in need. Hence, to the public, nursing is caring for someone in distress. Thus, there is little scope of the public staying updated on the professional developments in nursing practice. Although the patients seem to know better (than the past) about health care and demand more knowledge on their treatment options (Kubler – Ross, 1969), it is obvious that no common man thinks or does any analysis of a nurse until he needs one or is in a situation where he/she interacts with a nurse as in case of a hospital admission. ![]() ![]() But little attention has been drawn to assess the real public perception about nurses. Today, a nurse is a client advocate, educator and manager. It is true that the profession demands responsibilities than the past when the principle of a nurse was just to provide care and comfort. There is no doubt that nursing is a profession with the essential ingredients of autonomy and accountability.
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