The Gentle Hands of Nursing | Kaeko Yamashita (Dean, Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care)
2008.06.19
I remember when I was a nursing student, I was deeply impressed by an explanation of the word 'kango' (看護), which means nursing. The character 'kan' (看) is composed of the characters for 'hand' (手) and 'eye' (目), while the character 'go' (護) means 'to protect the body (a person).' I was struck by the idea that 'kango' symbolizes 'watching over and protecting people with one's hands and eyes,' and I recall thinking, "I see..."
This old memory also brings to mind a passage about the essence of nursing from anthropologist Margaret Mead's "Nursing—Primitive and Civilized," a speech delivered at the American Nurses Association in 1956 (translated by Yaeko Inada et al.,Kangono Honshitsu[The Essence of Nursing], Gendaisha, 1967). She spoke as follows.
"In our modern society, birth and death occur secretly in hospitals, often in the middle of the night, while people relax at home as if nothing has happened. ... We are keenly aware of how far removed we live from the human realities of birth, illness, and death.
...The mission-driven profession of nursing is positioned as a group that performs the unique function of protecting the weak and vulnerable through birth, illness, (old age), and death, as guardians of an essential social function that was necessary even before the profession existed... It is a practical activity that shows compassion (compassion, compassionate) for human reality.
...Compared to the past, fewer of us work with our own hands. ... Amidst this trend, nurses, as professionals, work using both their hands and their humanity. ... Your warm, insightful understanding of human needs is immediately manifested in the work of your hands.
We come to believe that the hand, heart, and head can work as one when we see the work of nursing. This is because the work of nursing teaches us how important the human hand is. ... We will discover the true compassion in the comforting hand of a nurse placed gently on the shoulder of a suffering child, and in the gentle hand of a nurse closing the eyelids of a deceased person."
When I look at M. Mead's collection of lectures above, it seems that the weak and vulnerable realities of humanity (birth, illness, (old age), and death) have not essentially changed, even after 50 years. In a sense, nursing education, which trains nurses who encounter birth, illness, old age, or death almost daily, involves an accumulation of learning and practical training to polish the hearts and minds of nursing students so that they can maintain their "gentle hands" and continue to show compassion. The energy for this comes from the interaction between nurses and people, and from being moved by the compassion shown by the weak and vulnerable.
(Posted on: 2008/06/19)