ABSTRACT
Inge van Nistelrooij addresses a paradox. On the one hand, nurses often speak about ‘balance’ between care for patients and self-care. They seem to warn others and themselves that care should not be given beyond the boundaries of their contractual responsibilities. On the other hand, when they tell stories about meaningful care and care that is worthwhile, about when they ‘really made a difference’, it appears that this was experienced especially when they crossed their contractual boundaries. It seems that sacrifice, or self-sacrifice even, is both strongly rejected and essential to meaningful caregiving. What nurses state seems to oppose what they do. Philosophy may help to clarify what happens here. Drawing upon the work of Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005), the author argues for an uncommon self-understanding of caregivers that goes against the grain by including self-sacrifice. Caring, the argument goes, does not fit the construction of mutual exchange and contractual obligations (like, for instance, in commercial exchange). For caring is responding to needs that develop, change, fluctuate. Unraveling the idea of self-sacrifice helps to adequately understand the core of care practice and the way that nurses see themselves.
