Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Nurses' Experiences of Assisting by Touch in Older Adult Care: "Striving to Be Present" or "Not Being There"
Pirkko Tolmunen1, Kristina Lämås, Regina Santamäki Fischer
1Caring Sciences, Åbo Akademi University, Strandgatan, Vasa, Finland (Ms Tolmunen and Drs Santamäki Fischer and Vaartio-Rajalin); and Department of Nursing, Umeå University, Linnaeus Väg, Umeå, Finland (Dr Lämås).
Abstract:
The aim of the study was to describe nurses' experiences of touch and especially touch when assisting older adult patients in hospital context. The interviewed nurses described 2 ways of assisting by touch: striving to be present and not being there. This study shows that touching and assisting by touch can constitute the core of the act of holistic caring in nursing, in which the most important content is a real encounter with the patient.
Related Concept Videos
Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
Nursing Implementation
The five steps to implementing effective nursing care include reassessing the patient, reviewing and revising the existing nursing care plan, organizing the resources and care delivery, anticipating and preventing complications, and implementing nursing interventions.
Current Trends in Nursing II
Current Trends in Nursing I
Aims Of Nursing
Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:

