Nursing care: an epistemic space where teaching draws on "being" the client/Cuidado de enfermagem: espaco epistemico de vivencias de ensino a partir do ser cliente/Cuidado: el sentido epistemico de vivencias de ensenanza de ser de los clientes

This study describes experiences in the teaching of nursing fundamentals for five years at Rio de Janeiro State Federal University, Brazil. The aim was to identify and discuss the experiences of 90 students as regards patients' feelings when receiving care. The quanti-qualitative method was implemented through a drama play dynamic. The study took place from 2008 to 2010, in four stages: creating the situation to be experienced; feeling like a client; thinking as player and observer; and noting down students' words/phrases for analysis. The results indicated the category: "care as a space for feeling one's body in the other's experience". It was concluded that the validity of this experience was confirmed when the participants each discovered that they had needs, in terms of being and feeling, similar to those of their patients. The study is believed to have contributed to the students' thinking about the possibility of providing sensitive, qualified care using what they learned during this dynamic.