This continuing education article analyzes Sumner’s theory, the moral construct of caring in nursing as communicative action. The dissemination of the theory includes the development of an instrument, its application to nursing administration, and its promise for use in patient care situations. It serves as a framework for nurses providing direct care to patients to reexamine the nurse–patient relationship.

This review aimed to identify methodologically sound studies that evaluated the effect of nurse caring on the satisfaction of hospitalized, adult patients. Quantitative studies were located from electronic databases, with a search strategy that focused on titles, key words, index terms, abstracts, and full text published documents on nurse caring or nursing staff caring, patient satisfaction, and hospitalized adults. The initial search identified 2,709 references. Fifty-two full text citations remained for the next step of critical appraisal; 16 documents were included in the final review. Most of the citations were Level VI in a hierarchy of evidence with low quality. Nurse caring protocols need to be developed and linked causally to the outcome of patient satisfaction with hospitalization.

The aim of this comparative descriptive design study was to explore older persons’ perceptions of the staff caring process and to describe whether differences exist among ethnic groups and by gender. Subjects were recruited from a diverse group of older persons who attended the Mercy Living Independently for Elders (LIFE) Program in Philadelphia. Total scores on the Caring Behaviors Inventory for Elders (CBI-E) were compared by ethnic group; scores did not differ at a statistically significant level. When total CBI-E scores were compared by gender, no statistically significant difference was found. Additional testing of the CBI-E is called for to continue to establish its psychometric properties.