Is Nursing really an Art and a Science

GracefulRN · May 20, 2004

Thanks for your insight llg. I also think that we can point out the shortcomings of pioneering nursing research without bashing those souls brave enough to try to do something for the betterment of their patients and proffession.

Have you heard of any steps taken to insure the integrity of nursing research? Are there any groups out there that really think that nursing is not a legitimate science?

Again, I enjoyed your post, lets keep em' commin' :)

susanna · May 20, 2004

Nursing certainely has a great societal value; no one can question that. I don't know...Are some of your really asking yourselves how much prestige(apart from its societal value) nursing owes itself as a profession by estimating its value as a science or an art? I am. And, I sure would like the answer.

Does art ressemble life or does life ressemble art? I've thought about this for a loooong time and came to the conclusion that life definately takes after art. Why else would art continue to thrive throughout history if it only took after life? Art is an illusion created that lets you see life differently through its unique lenses. This is why, no doubt, litterature and paintings are unarguably called "forms of art". We like them because they jilt our perception of things, make us notice things that weren't there before. Who was it that said, "After the one time I looked upon a Cezanne, everywhere I looked, all of life ressembled Cezanne"? So, if nursing is an art form, the question to ask is what unique shift in perception do we get from being a nurse that other people cannot get? And, what is the medium(the lenses) of this art?

This is where its ultimate value lays as an artform.

llg, PhD, RN · May 21, 2004

So, if nursing is an art form, the question to ask is what unique shift in perception do we get from being a nurse that other people cannot get? And, what is the medium(the lenses) of this art?
This is where its ultimate value lays as an artform.

I think the medium of the nursing art form is our actions -- the services we provide, the ways in which we provide it, and the role we play in society. Through our actions and our role we express ourselves as nurses, individually and collectively.

Ideally, those expressions of our nursing selves (the art of nuring) reflect a strong philosophical and scientific foundation.

I have never really expressed my thoughts about this so succinctly. Thank you, Susanna, for stimulating me to do so.

llg

watersnake · May 21, 2004

What the nursing "profession" needs is more nurses to admit that nursing theory is useless and does little to make a "profession." This never ending quest for acceptance by other professions has allowed for such laughable "theories" as Rogers "Science (?) of Unitary Human Beings."
True research is being done, but not to distance nursing from science. I feel that nursing has much to offer in the understanding of things such as wound healing/treatment, pain management, maternity care, and family / patient dynamics. But to resort to paranormal modalities such as therapeutic touch does not nothing but diminish the real research / scientific study being done by nurses.
Welcome to the nursing heretic society...
...you may now remove the wool from your eyes...

Hi;

Funny how this has been referred to as a 'heretical' position. I seem to remember this Galileo fellow who opposed the Catholic church with his heretical position that the sun revolved around the earth. Fact overcame heresy, though not in his lifetime.

Sigmund Freud also had this quality about him. He 'excommunicated' anaylists who disagreed in any form...(note that you can't spell psychoanalysis without using the word 'anal').

I am trying to begin investigating the extent to which the Church of Scien-tology has insidiously begin to creep into legitimate organizations by hostile takeover methods, some of which are quite creative. My understanding is that the organization MADD was successfully sued and that the above Church paid the settlement in return for the organization and name. They allegedly have deep pockets.

DISCLAIMER!!! I have no hard evidence, but hearsay. More on this as the facts unravel. I DO NOT WANT to be accused of stating non-factual info, nor to be the starter of a conspiracy theory.

However this Rogerian nursing babble reeks a bit of something..... I wonder?

Snake

OC_An Khe · May 21, 2004

I know this response is an oversimplification but it does sum up my opinion of over three decades in direct patient care.

Nursing is definetly a science. The practise of nursing is an art.