Expanding the Concept of Precision Nursing from a Caring Science Perspective, with Clinical Examples from a Swedish Emergency Care Context

TL;DR

This paper explores how precision nursing can be enhanced by incorporating caring science, using examples from emergency care in Sweden.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel perspective on precision nursing grounded in caring science, emphasizing the importance of holistic patient care.

Findings

Precision nursing should be rooted in caring science to ensure alignment with patient needs.

Clinical examples from emergency care illustrate how caring science can expand the concept of precision nursing.

Abstract

The purpose of both precision medicine and precision nursing is to improve patient outcomes. This theoretical article is designed as a conceptual and position paper situated within caring science, with a specific focus on understanding precision nursing across diverse clinical contexts. Rather than presenting empirical findings, the paper synthesizes theoretical perspectives, caring science foundations, and selected scholarly literature. In this position paper, we seek to expand the concept of precision nursing from a caring science perspective with clinical examples, vignettes, from an emergency care context. Precision medicine can be viewed as an effort to truly individualize a treatment and make it as accurate and effective as possible. While the focus on measurable outcomes saves lives, it also carries the risk of narrowing attention to what can be observed and quantified. These visible clinical markers represent only part of what matters in care. To get the full picture of a patient and their treatment, caring must serve as the foundation for precision nursing, as it is caring that ensures that technological advancements remain aligned with individual patient needs. Precision medicine and precision nursing may offer direction, but to provide meaning to the concepts, a grounding in caring science is provided in this study.