At kultivere omsorg - Kræftens Bekæmpelse

experience of nearness with patients will nurses be able to develop their personal
courage to involve themselves emotionally, thereby improving the quality of care. It is
important to supply a professional space which will allow nurses to establish a sufficient
distance to their patients within the clinical context. This should be ensured In order to
assure the directionality of the emotional involvement, allowing the development of
personal courage rather than simply hopelessness and despondency. We conclude that
this necessary professional distance should be established through collegiate supervision
which is a prerequisite for preserving the emotional integrity of the professional
caretakers. To establish this distance is necessary in order to be able to actually cope
with working professionally in such close emotional relation to patients rather than
denying or deflecting the emotional aspects of caretaking - thereby reducing it to merely
an instrumental and goal oriented rational behaviour. Collegiate supervision should
involve aspects of professional reflection enhancing the critical competence of the entire
group of caretakers. This is necessary in order for them to collectively establish and
develop the ability to decide how individual patients should adequately be taken care of
in the context of actual clinical practice of sufficient quality.
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