Approximately one-third of new graduates will quit their jobs in the first year. When nurses leave, vacant positions result in increased overtime for the remaining staff, which eventually results in burnout. Burnout leads to even more turnover. This article describes how the staff transformed a neurosurgical intensive care unit and nurture students through the application of Jean Watson's 10 Caritas processes. When nursing students complete their clinical practicum in the unit, learning is enhanced, the students seek to continue to work in the intensive care unit, recruitment and retention are encouraged, and burnout may be prevented.

For 35 years, the researcher has observed nurses in practice: when caring for complete strangers and performing acts of caring in the most intimate way. Compassion, duty to act, caring, tenderness, and love are qualities associated with the loving care that nurses provide. The word, love, is seldomly used in nursing schools and in nursing practice. However, the love exhibited daily by nurses for patients may not be adequately described as love. This study describes love, its attributes, and its connection to nursing as compared to when nursing was a trained profession, based on the duty to care.

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