Gayle entered into Tracy's world that night open to hearing a special call. Gayle's openness was partly a reflection of her use of the empirical pathway of knowing, the data given in report, the comparison of empirical observations against biological, psychological, developmental, and social norms. Before discussing our understanding of Gayle's response from the theoretical per-perspective represented, it might be helpful to compare how the call for nursing may have been interpreted if approached, for example, from a psychological framework. If the nurse responded from a psychological framework, the problem identified would perhaps be conceptualized as denial on the part of Tracy's mother. It could be assumed that Tracy's mother was avoiding the reality of the impending death of her daughter. Here, the nursing goal would be assist the mother in dealing with her denial by facilitating grieving. Denial is only one psychological concept that could be applied in this situation; avoidance, anxiety, and loss are others. When nursing care is based on a psychological framework, however, the central theme of care is likely to be deemphasized in favor of a problem-oriented approach. The perspective offered by a normative discipline requires a reliance on empirical knowing. Using only the empirical pathway of knowing, the richness of nursing is lost.
Gayle's personal knowing, her intuition, however, was the pathway that illuminated the appreciation of this situation and prompted her acknowledgement of a call. She heard Tracy's call for intimacy, comfort, and protection of her mother's presence as she (Tracy) summoned courage and hope for her journey. Gayle intuitively knew that the specific caring being called forth was the caring of a mother. Gayle's caring response also took the form of the courageous acknowledgement of a call for nursing that would be difficult to sub-stantiate empirically. Beyond telephoning Tracy's mother, Gayle continued her nursing effort to answer Tracy's call for the presence of a mother as she supported Mrs. P. living her interconnectedness, in being with Tracy. Gayle heard Mrs. P.'s calls for knowing, knowing what to do and knowing that it would be right to do it, for the courage to be with her daughter in this new difficult passage. Her response of showing the way reflects hope and humility. The caring between the nurse and the ones nursed enhanced the personhood of all three, as each grew in caring ways. It is possible that the caring between the original participants in the nursing situation and those of us who are participating through engagement with the text continues to enhance personhood.
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