The Naïve nurse: revisiting vulnerability for nursing
Date
2012-04-20
Authors
Tomm-Bonde, Laura
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: Nurses in the Western world have given considerable attention to the concept of vulnerability in
recent decades. However, nurses have tended to view vulnerability from an individualistic perspective, and have
rarely taken into account structural or collective dimensions of the concept. As the need grows for health workers
to engage in the global health agenda, nurses must broaden earlier works on vulnerability, noting that conventional
conceptualizations and practical applications on the notion of vulnerability warrant extension to include more
collective conceptualizations thereby making a more complete understanding of vulnerability in nursing discourse.
Discussion: The purpose of this paper is to examine nursing contributions to the concept of vulnerability and
consider how a broader perspective that includes socio-political dimensions may assist nurses to reach beyond the
immediate milieu of the patient into the dominant social, political, and economic structures that produce and
sustain vulnerability.
Summary: By broadening nurse’s conceptualization of vulnerability, nurses can obtain the consciousness needed to
move beyond a peripheral role of nursing that has been dominantly situated within institutional settings to
contribute in the larger arena of social, economic, political and global affairs.
Description
BioMed Central
Keywords
Citation
Tomm-Bonde: The Naïve nurse: revisiting vulnerability for nursing. BMC Nursing 2012 11:5