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Increasingly complex occupational demands along with varied educational and personal examples of caring, may impact the ability to deeply connect with patients. Literature has identified that nurses and patients have differing perceptions of caring behaviors. Jean Watson's Theory of Human Caring provides a framework for care delivery that focuses on the caring nurse–patient relationship and the experience through the patients' lens.Caring healing relationships are at the core of professional nursing. The purpose of this project was to design and deliver an educational seminar based on Jean Watson's Theory of Human Caring to newly graduated nurses to examine the impact on self-efficacy in caring behaviors.The project participants (N = 56) consisted of a nonprobability convenience sample of newly graduated nurses at a local faith-based community hospital. The educational intervention consisted of experiential learning activities to facilitate translating theory to practice. The study utilized the Caring Efficacy Scale (CES), which is an instrument based on Watson's caring theory and Albert Bandura's self-efficacy theory. Results demonstrated a significant improvement in caring efficacy between the preintervention (M = 5.1, SD = .47), and immediate post intervention (M = 5.5, SD = .38); t (52) = −9.09, p = .000.The knowledge from this study could provide insights for the development of effective teaching strategies to facilitate translating nursing theory to practice. Establishing and developing skills to facilitate nurturing, caring nurse–patient relationships may enhance both the patient and caregiver experience.

In an exploratory descriptive study using nurse-written clinical narratives, dimensions of Watson's Theory of Caring are reflected in nurses' descriptions of specific clinical events or situations, and narratives of nurses who are less experienced differ in terms of the caring dimensions than do those of more experienced nurses.

We describe the journey of personnel at one hospital to create a healing environment for patients and staff members at all levels through the implementation of Watson's Theory of Human Caring and her Caritas Processes (ie, loving kindness, authentic presence, spirituality, being the environment, believing in miracles). We used experiential teaching and learning to explore the nursing theory with staff members. Positive outcomes include using Caritas Processes care plans in our electronic medical record, greater ease in the understanding and application of Watson's theory, integrating a blessing for nurses during National Nurses Week, inclusion of ministry formation courses to extend the mission of the hospital's founding religious order to current and future employees, and positive patient feedback. As a result of theory application, our nurses are more open to discussing caring, authentic presence and, when appropriate, prayer in their clinical narratives and how it is affecting patients and themselves.