What are the “6Cs”?
The attitudes and practices that have transformed and inspired one’s life are many. Bravery, kindness, understanding, sympathy, etc. Among all of them, some other values are called the “6Cs” of nursing, which is also equally important to every man in the world. The 6Cs are care, compassion, competence, communication, courage, and commitment.
“Wit” movie.
To discuss the above values, understand them, and define them using examples, “Wit” movie is very helpful. “Wit” is an American television drama film directed by Mike Nichols. It is about a fatal cancer patient. She, Vivian Bearing is a professor of English literature and her cancer was discovered at its fourth stage. Harvey Kelekian, the main doctor prescribes various chemotherapy treatments to treat her disease, and as a result of them, she suffers from various side effects.
In this film, we have to meet some characters. By them, I go to discuss 6Cs. The main doctor, Harvey Kelekian, and his student and Vivian’s former student, doctor Jason Posner are conducting medical experiments using her. For them, Vivian is only a Guinea pig for their experiments. They do their tests using her and use extra doses of chemotherapy treatments for her. There is a scene in the movie, Vivian is in severe pain and she wants pain killers, her nurse Susie asks doctors for them. But the doctors do not prescribe it for her because they want them to be a success in their experiment.
There are several other scenes too in the film, like that. By such incidences, we can highlight the value of 6Cs.
Care.
People receiving care expect it to be right for them, consistently, throughout every stage of their life. Care can define as safe keeping, being concerned, and looking after like this. In childhood, we can not do anything without the care and aid of our parents. Then when we grow up, we want to care in different ways. As a friend, a guardian, and also as a lover we expect care from others. It is common to everyone. Even animals need someone’s care.
In Wit, Vivian is in a care-needed state. She needs mental care as well as physical care. Stay alone when you know that you are going to die, is not easy. So, in the movie, we meet nurse Susie. She is a very caring person. When Vivian’s doctors and others do not care for her, Susie cares for her.
Sometimes doing nothing but listening to someone who wants to express his/her feelings is very important caring. When Vivian expresses her fear, Susie listens to her and does not disturb her feelings. She touches Vivian’s hand to make calm her but does not disturb her. Through this Susie shows Vivian, that she must not be afraid and that she is there for her. This is a precious feeling that one can have, there is someone always for him/her. This is caring.
Compassion.
Compassion is the feeling that arises when we see other’s suffer and we want to help them to cure it. It is a combination of sympathy, empathy, and as well as understanding too. It can also be described as intelligent kindness and is central to how people perceive their care towards others.
In the film, two doctors see how much Vivian suffers because of their treatments. But they do not compassionate toward her. I said ” because of treatments,” because doctors do an experiment using her and they prescribe extra dosages for her for the sake of their experiment. Again nurse Susie is compassionate towards Vivian. She understands how much Vivian suffers and she tries her best to comfort her.
There is a scene in the movie, Vivian stays awake at night because she is so frightened. At that moment Susie comes in and talks with her. Susie brings an ice popsicle to Vivian and when Vivian gives her half of it, Susie eats it by sitting near her while talking about her childhood memories which makes Vivian easier with her. This is compassion.
To make someone feel good, even a little act can be helped very much. The only thing you want is kindness and compassion in your mind. If you can be compassionate toward someone while respecting their dignity, it will be worth you high.
Competence.
It is necessary to update your knowledge and skills regularly, as well as know your limits in everything. Competence is the ability to do something successfully. So it is a value that one must have to add to his/her life. For this, we need dedication and we have to be smart too. We have to improve and update our skills and knowledge on the behalf of ourselves and for others too.
In the movie, Susie does her work with competency. For this, her other qualities help her a lot. But if we consider doctor Jason, He loses his competence. He has his knowledge and dedication. But he has no other values like care and compassion on such a scale to make him competent.
So, competence is a very valuable attitude we can develop in our lives, otherwise if not, it can make your other good values too into a useless state.
Communication.
Communication is crucial to interact with others. We can communicate in good ways as well as in bad ways. Sometimes we will not be concerned about this much, but sometimes one word or even your silence can hurt somebody so much. So it is very important to be careful when you talk or communicate with others.
Communication is not always verbal. There is non-verbal communication too. Your facial expressions and your actions too express the attitudes within you. For better communication firstly you have to be a good listener. Then you can talk.
In the movie ” Wits”, there are a few scenes of Vivian going to a room for some tests. There is a person there, can be a lab assistant or other, in every time she goes there, he asks her name to write down in his book. There is nothing wrong with that, but his feeling, toward her all the time is impenitentness and aggressiveness. This is not a quality of good communication.
There is another seen too which we can take as an example for the bad communication. In there Vivian asks doctor Jason “Why cancer?” and he answers her. He gives her an excellent theoretical explanation of cancers. But he does not understand the state of his patient and what kind of answer she expects from him.
But Susie, the nurse understands Vivian and she always acts with Vivian by keeping a pleasant, inspiring smile on her face. So try to smile, it will be the very best way to make good communication and it will make others happy too.
Courage.
Courage can be defined as strength in the face of pain or grief. Our lives do not always flow calmly and quietly. We have to face so many obstacles within it. Sometimes we will cry, but the important thing is not to give up the try. It will be not easy, but with courage, we have to face them. On the other side, if there are no obstacles in our lives, we will be bored. So think about it.
To overcome our barriers we can help each other, and we can motivate each other to improve our courage. By being tactical and courageous, it will be easy to face and help others to face grief. In our movie, there is a scene, Vivian asks nurse Susie, is she in a fatal state and Susie answered, that the doctors do their best to recover her. In there Susie acts tactically to improve Vivian’s courage.
Commitment.
Commitment is a state being dedicated to a course. In there you will continually strive for your target. Sometimes it can be not easy to do it, but for others’ good behalf or you’re good, you have to do it. So, this is also an important value one can add to his/her life.
In the film “Wit”, when Vivian is severely ill, she tells Susie, that if her heart stops, let it stop. On the last day, when doctor Jason comes to check on Vivian, her heart was stopped. So he calls Code blue team and tries to resuscitate. Susie tries to stop the doctor by saying to him Vivian is a DNR( Do Not Resuscitate) patient. But he does not listen to her. So she does her best on behalf of Vivian. She pulls down doctor Jason to stop resuscitation. This is the commitment.
Conclusion.
Those are the 6Cs of nursing. But they are not only valuable for nurses they are valuable for all human beings. As social beings, we have to interact with a variety of people and if you improve the above values within you, it will be easier to act with them. Not only that, but also it will make a better society to live in and also to die with dignity.
