看護の立場から : 病むこと、癒えること、看護(みまも)ること(シンポジウム 病とは何か・癒しとは何か,<特集>病とは何か・癒しとは何か インフォームド・コンセントとは何か)

抄録

This article presents the author's statement in the symposium on "Disease and Healing", that medical care based in Western medicine tends to cure the disease alone, but dose not care for the sick as a whole. Man is mortal, destined to age and sometimes falls ill. Besides cure, man needs care of others. As nursing has its origin in the mother-care of helpless infants, it is related to the care of all humanity. It has extended its functions of taking care from the sick to the aged, the helpless, the handicapped and so on. Historically speaking, however, it used to be believed that sick people were a type of convict and should be discriminated. It was not until the nineteenth century that the distinction between being ill and illness itself was established, because of the development of not only Western medical science such as pathology and bacteriology but also the idea of human rights. Sick people retrieved their honor, but at the same time, only disease became cured. The sick themselves did not recovered from the illness in some cases. Nowadays, human being faces the problems of advanced age. Even though man is mortal, man must live a life worth living. The role of nursing should be broadened. If there are persons who need any help physically and mentally, nursing must give a hand to take care of those persons although they may be dying, so that they are able to heal themselves at least mentally during their life.