Nursing and Michelangelo

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What exactly is nursing?

There are a million definitions of what nursing is, and many of these would be correct. But the more I practice, the closer I think I am to knowing the definition.

Nursing is an art.

One definition of an art is: the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

I love this definition. When I hold someone's hand, cry and laugh with them, I am expressing the art.

When I check lab work and suggest a change in treatment, I am applying creative skill to the art.

When I tape a dressing or an IV a million different ways on a confused individual whose has pulled out the previous five, I am using imagination as the art

This art does not express itself in the visual form of a painting or of a sculpture, but on the faces, hearts, minds and experiences of the individuals affected.

We are the artists, and our care are the paintings.

With this art I can chose to be like a sloppy painter, and hurry through my task at hand. I can quickly give the patient their medications, and toss a damp washcloth in their general direction, and give a distracted "I will get back you with" response to their questions.

Or I can be like a careful painter, and, with skill and precision administer medications thoroughly and efficiently, explaining each drug to their satisfaction. I can get a washcloth wet, with soapy warm water, and assist the patient with their hygiene. And I can grant them the dignity of responding to their questions about their care to the best of my ability, or find someone else who can.

It might sound crazy to anyone but a nurse, but there is something beautiful about an organized patient room, organized IV tubing, having the time to give a bed bath, sitting down and really explaining what is happening, and holding someone's hand.

It is artistic to take something broken and patch it up as best as you can. To give a nausea medication to a cancer patient. To give a back rub to a lonely elder. To wash the feet of someone who hasn't had it done in weeks.

Beauty and emotional power is a definition of art. Raw beauty and ragged emotional power is expressed every day in our practice. We should never lose sight of that beauty and emotional power, no matter how crazy our shift can be.

We have so many influences that can negatively affect our art. We can have limited time, limited materials, and limited attitudes. We may never get to express our art in such an awesome way as Michelangelo has done on the Sistine Chapel.

But each day that we work as a nurse we have a clean canvas and some various shades of paint. And what is done with the materials at hand is more of an expression of a good artist than one done with all of the best materials at his or her disposal.

It is easy to get lost in the tasks of passing medications, cleaning someone up, or calling for medication clarifications for the umpteenth time. It is easy to get discouraged when your paint colors run into each other and the grand picture that you had in mind took on a different form. But even a different picture is still a work of art.

As we work as nurses and as we teach future nurses and precept new nurses, we cannot forget the art of nursing.

And at the end of the day, your art makes more of a difference than you know.

Nursing and Michelangelo

What exactly is nursing?

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