ABSTRACT
The ‘presence of the nurse’ is the major property of the ‘presentation’ category evident in both the accounts of nurses and patients. This concept encompasses a considerable number of codes all of which reflect a belief in the nurse’s physical and/or psychological proximity or closeness to the patient, having some form of benefit for the patient. The nurse’s presence with the patient may take a physical or psychological form; nurses and patients refer to both types. Psychological proximity may be of an affective and/or a cognitive nature. One example of the nurse’s psychological presence would be ‘trying to understand the patient’s viewpoint’. The chapter examines aspects of the property ‘presence of the nurse. The patient distinguishes her experiences of health care in term of the nurse’s availability. The belief that there was a shortage of nurses in general was shared by the majority of patients in the study.
