Presence

Healthy therapeutic relationships enhance wholeness and healing;they are the key to effective health promotion. Therapeutic nursing presencedemonstrates caring, empathy, and connection, qualities required to build rapport andtrust between nurse and patient. This concept analysis’ purpose was to illuminate thevarious forms of the meanings of presence and the value placed on them. The science ofnursing often precedes the art and spirituality of nursing. This is due to focusingprimarily on the high acuity of the patients being seen in conjunction with shortage ofpersonnel and resources. Patient dissatisfaction continues to be a growing concern. Thenursing shortage crisis continues along with more nurses experiencing moral distress,compassion fatigue, and/or burnout. In nurses’ haste to complete their duties, are wefacing the risk of overlooking one of the original gifts of the nursing profession? Thiswould be the gift of genuine presence. This concept analysis aims to identify theattributes that are essential to the concept of presence, and to clarify its nursingusage, by following the strategy suggested by Walker and Avant. It is important toreflect on various ways of providing presence in the clinical setting. By exploring thespiritual, literary, psychological, and nursing literature, there is a diverse yetsimilar interconnectivity of what presence may represent. Observations and experiencesof a range of sensatory and kinesthetic perceptions are revealed to ascertain theattributes discerning commonalities and themes of presence. Nursing presence isconsidered to be an essential state of holistic nursing as well as a core competency incontemporary nursing. Clarifying the significance of presence in nursing invites theprospect of additional evidence-based research that may place the intrinsic value ofpresence as a continuing theoretical foundation