Caring in nursing--conditioning of realisation.

Caring manifested by the concern of a nurse, attention and carefulness of activities with respect to a human being in need is the essence of nursing care, while caring actions constitute the most independent scope of nurses' activities. The aim of the study was to determine whether the nurses in their everyday occupational practice understand the core of caring actions and perceive the conditioning of their realisation. The study covered 130 nurses employed in inpatient health facilities. The survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire form containing variously constructed questions. The results of the study showed that nurses undertook caring actions 'willingly' more often than 'very willingly', the percentage of respondents undertaking caring actions in category 'very willingly' increasing with the duration of employment. Over 86% of nurses in the study independently undertook caring actions, as soon as they recognized patients' demand; however, only 7% of respondents admitted that caring actions determine the distinct character of the nursing profession. According to the greatest number of respondents the following factors determined the quality of caring services: organization of work in the ward, provision of material and means for nursing, personality-related factors, incentives for work, and supervisor's requirements. Nurses applying the method of individual work with a patient undertook caring actions more often than those working by the method of traditional nursing.