Reframing covenant for nursing: From individual commitments to covenant with society

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Ethics
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• The current healthcare environment challenges nurses' ability to provide compassionate, competent, and ethical care.
• Nurses' commitment to care is often viewed as heroic and deeply tied to professional identity.
• The concept of a nurse-patient covenant has been used to explain nurses' dedication, but is often misunderstood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critique the traditional understanding of a nurse-patient covenant.
• To explore reframing the covenant as a relationship between society and the nursing profession.
• To examine the utility of a societal covenant of care as a relational framework for nursing.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory project analyzing nursing literature and healthcare system evidence.
• Conceptual analysis of the covenant as a relational framework.
• Examination of global healthcare system pressures on nursing.

Main Results:

• The traditional nurse-patient covenant model is critiqued for idealizing individual nurses and obscuring societal responsibilities.
• Reframing the covenant as a societal agreement with the nursing profession addresses systemic issues.
• Evidence shows nurses' commitments are strained by increasing demands and risks in global healthcare systems.

Conclusions:

• A reframed covenant of care, emphasizing shared responsibility between society and nursing, is essential for the common good.
• This societal covenant can lead to a more sustainable nursing identity and address healthcare system gaps.
• Rethinking the covenant offers a path toward a sustainable, shared commitment to healthcare for both patients and nurses.