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THE EMPOWERED NURSE

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THE SPIRIT

This inspirational column calls for nurses to be consumers and contributors to the evidence upon which our practice is
based. This curiosity and optimism reflect the spirit of inquiry.

Everyday Choices, Extraordinary Results

As I reflect on the spirit of nursing, I’m drawn back to a Carver, 1993; Gross, 2017). Optimism possesses the ability to in-
mindset I have carried through my 28 years of nursing — first as spire, even in the realm of the environmental science-policy of
a direct care nurse and now as an executive nurse leader. This climate change (Cvitanovic & Hobday, 2018).
mindset is realistic optimism. I distinctly recall early in my career I’ve always subscribed to Watson’s Theory of Caring as the
making the determination that no patient would ever encounter theoretical underpinning for my nursing practice and have had
me as a grumpy nurse with a pessimistic, negative outlook. We the opportunity to write a number of papers on the topic in my
often meet patients in crisis. They rely on us to provide scien- academic pursuits, affirming and strengthening this belief. Car-
tific, technically expert, evidence-based care delivered through ing about people is why I chose the nursing profession. My
the art of nursing, which is a holistic and humanistic approach. much-loved grandmother used to tell me I had a sensitive spirit
This ideal has been carried in my leadership style. For example, and healing hands. She died of metastatic breast cancer at the
when recently presenting on a challenging topic, I prefaced my age of 58 when I was 18 years old, so to honor her words, in-
talk by saying “I’m an optimistic realist.” I got a few puzzled sight, and memory, I chose a caring healing profession. I am bet-
looks, but the reality is that often there aren’t easy solutions to ting if you are reading this, there is a very good chance that
the complex issues we face. However, there are opportunities to caring for people is why you also chose nursing. Our outlook,
innovate and collaborate with a positive mindset, and this whether positive or negative, has an important connection to
prompted me to further investigate this topic. our capacity to care for our patients. Vandenhouten, Kubsch,
Let’s first establish a definition of what optimism means. Peterson, Murdock, & Lehrer (2012) write about a negative atti-
Merriam-Webster (n.d.) defines optimism as an inclination to an- tude affecting our ability to demonstrate caring to our patients.
ticipate the best possible outcome. This isn’t saying we’re unreal- This lack of care or empathy is damaging to the transpersonal
istic about our current reality. Optimism isn’t a fantastical way of nurse-patient relationship and may, in fact, slow the process of
thinking, rather it’s a mindset to look at the facts and emotions healing. When patients talk with me about their experiences
laid before us seeking to develop favorable solutions to current with their nurses, the good stories are about how their nurse ap-
reality. Optimists are those people that can see an obstacle proached them and made them feel, how their nurse helped
ahead, and rather than become a stumbling block to halt them achieve what they thought they could not, how their nurse
progress, it is seen as an opportunity to innovate and overcome. was their caring advocate. Conversely, other stories are not
Admittedly, this can sound a bit cliché, but there’s actually quite about mistakes the nurse made, but almost always about the atti-
a bit of evidence to the contrary and supports optimism really tude of the nurse — how the patient felt a lack of caring or in-
does matter. Many studies report that optimists consistently vestment from their nurse.
maintain higher levels of perceived well-being during stressful Being optimistic is also a key characteristic to building re-
events compared to those who are less optimistic (Scheier & siliency. The American Psychological Association (2014) defines
resilience as adaptation in the face of adversity. To build on this
definition, I like to think about resiliency as the notion of recov-
ery after strain, it’s not just adapting to adversity, it’s about how
“ we regroup and move forward, using that experience to generate
future strength. As nurses, we must help our patients build re-
siliency, but first we must personally become experts in improv-
Our outlook, whether positive or negative, ing our own resilience as the consequences of failing to do so are
has an important connection to our capac- dire. Nurses who struggle to form resiliency are more prone to
ity to care for our patients.” compassion fatigue and burnout, which may ultimately result in