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Publications & Resources > The Standard > September 2005

   Last modified: Aug. 25, 2005

The Standard of Care

L. Holynaty

Relationships: "A nurse demonstrates the standard by ensuring clients' needs remain the focus of the nurse-client relationship."
— from Professional Standards

Photo: M. Gordon

Lucie Holynaty , RN, knows that nursing involves more than meeting her clients’ physical needs — it’s also about addressing emotional issues.

As a rehabilitation nurse with 19 years experience at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, a Toronto facility caring for several hundred survivors of the Jewish Holocaust, being aware of her clients’ traumatic past enables her to provide sensitive care.

For many of Lucie’s clients, certain commonplace events, such as being woken during the night, may cause flashbacks to their experiences in Jewish concentration camps. Identifying triggers for flashbacks has helped Lucie to develop a deep understanding of their emotions. “To understand the client, you accept them — spirit, mind and body,” she says.

Lucie promotes better care of Holocaust survivors by sharing her insights with other health care workers. For example, in 2003 Lucie and a colleague spoke at the American Rehabilitation Nursing Conference in New Orleans about helping survivors of war trauma. It was the first Canadian presentation to be selected for the conference and the first presentation to specifically discuss the impact of the Holocaust on rehabilitation. Lucie also contributed to Caring for Aging Holocaust Survivors, a practice manual that Baycrest published in 2004.

Much of Lucie’s awareness stems from her clients trusting her with their feelings about how the Holocaust has affected their lives and their families. Some of Lucie’s nursing colleagues have also shared anecdotes of family members who were Holocaust victims.

“Put yourself in the client’s shoes. Don’t have preconceptions about your client,” advises Lucie. “You accomplish more by listening before reacting.”

With clients sharing their experiences — and caregivers such as Lucie seeking to understand the profound impact of these experiences — nurses can help lift their clients’ spirits, as well as heal their bodies.

At the College of Nurses, the phrase “The Standard of Care” is more than just a tag line for the logo; it is about setting the bar for safe, effective and ethical nursing care through the practice standards and guidelines. The Standard of Care page features nurses who have raised the bar on the standard of care they provide to their clients.

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