Pressure to place patients at the centre of care has humanised health research

Following a number of high-profile reports of healthcare failures (Francis, 2013; Gosport Independent Panel, 2018), there has been considerable interest in humanising nursing care and the nurse education to support this (Scammell et al, 2017). This requires all practitioners and students to reflect on the way we see the world and to try to step into the shoes of those we care for, looking at care experiences through their eyes as fellow human beings. This does not sound difficult and is undoubtedly the aim of those who decide to take up nursing.

However, even with the best of intentions, in today's high-pressured, resource-stretched care environments (NHS England, NHS Improvement, 2019), it is easy to slip into seeing care as a set of tasks and downplaying things that make us feel human (Galvin and Todres, 2013), such as feeling valued, secure and dignified. Rightly, the movement to place the person centre stage, as opposed to treating them, unintentionally perhaps, as an object of care, has permeated all aspects of the care system including research. What should nurses look out for to enable them to judge whether health research is humanised?