Biography
Biography: Charmaine Attard
Abstract
In this day and age where technology has taken over a large part of our lives, the thirst for actual physical human interaction is growing. The statistics show that in a world full of social media, people are actually lonelier.
However is physical interaction easy to implement? In a world where professionals are afraid of being sued for the wrong move, where they are afraid that actions may be misread and taken badly, how easy it is to perform this interaction through actions like touch? As a nurse, I have personally gone through life being taught that as a nurse’s touch is one of the best ways to comfort a person
In today’s society, where we are very sensitive about boundaries, it makes it hard to find the right way forward. I teach my nursing students that touch is comforting. I mentor my staff that touch can comfort and console the dying and the distressed. Yes, touch can sometimes be misinterpreted and yes we need to be vigilant when we use it because of culture, maybe confusion like in the case of dementia, or gender differences. But it cannot be something we abolish or something we do not practice. The world is already too lonely for people not to connect through touch. I have seen elserly slip away peacefully with their hand being held by a professional. I have seen elderlyconsoled with a nurse’s hand around their shoulder while they cry after receiving bad news, a patient soothed with a caress, as they were in unbearable pain or holding the hand of a relative who just cannot bear seeing their loved one going through chemotherapy and suffering the cruel effects of the treatment.
This paper hopes to cover some of the contoversies regarding touch, whilst evaluating it’s importance in an elderly patient’s journey and the repurcussions of having professionals shy away from touch in today’s world.
As Keats said “Touch has memory” and if we want to create good memories for our patients and also for ourselves as carers then we must recognize that touch is and always should be an integral part of our practice.