Toward a Better World

When nurses practice the habits of a good nurse, they are the presence of a better world for their patients and their patients’ communities. When nurses practice the habits of a good nurse, they produce in the here and now a world that is better than disease and disorder, a world in which vulnerability and uncertainty are lessened. When nurses cultivate in themselves the habits of a good nurse, they bring that which is good into the places of care. Nursing presence is the presence of a better world for patients and their communities. Ultimately, nursing presence brings into the present the promise of a better world. The moral character of the profession of nursing is bound up in this promise—and the work of nurses to bring it about.