Caring Science: Transforming the Ethic of Caring-Healing Practice, Environment, and Culture within an Integrated Care Delivery System

In early 2010, leaders within Kaiser Permanente (KP) Northern California's Patient Care Services division embarked on a journey to embrace and embed core tenets of Caring Science into the practice, environment, and culture of the organization. Caring Science is based on the philosophy of Human Caring, a theory articulated by Jean Watson, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, as a foundational covenant to guide nursing as a discipline and a profession. Since 2010, Caring Science has enabled KP Northern California to demonstrate its commitment to being an authentic person- and family-centric organization that promotes and advocates for total health. This commitment empowers KP caregivers to balance the art and science of clinical judgment by considering the needs of the whole person, honoring the unique perception of health and healing that each member or patient holds, and engaging with them to make decisions that nurture their well-being. The intent of this article is two-fold: 1) to provide context and background on how a professional practice framework was used to transform the ethic of caring-healing practice, environment, and culture across multiple hospitals within an integrated delivery system; and 2) to provide evidence on how integration of Caring Science across administrative, operational, and clinical areas appears to contribute to meaningful patient quality and health outcomes.