The Art of Nursing

leslie :-D · Jul 30, 2004

randy,

your thread truly made me smile....i am so pleased with this topic as it is close to my heart.

yes, there is an art to nursing. as i was taught in school; anyone can learn the science of nsg. but not all can learn the art. i think i will give this some thought rather than my typical rattling of my mouth. i'll be back.

mrs/mom/rn · Jul 30, 2004

The art of nursing is subtle. Not all interactions produce masterpeices,but I feel the art during many interactions. When I take the principals of nursing and use them to help a demented patient stay safe, a dying patient feel peace, a dyspneic patient breathe, a family member connect, a doctor realize an important issue, and promote sleep for the weary, I feel that I have taken many individual skills and created a masterpeice.

Jen2 · Jul 30, 2004

Let's see. The art of nursing. Does cutting a suction tube ( not used of course) in order to use it for a straw so that your patient can drink their CT dye with count?

leslie :-D · Jul 30, 2004

mrs/mom/rn,

that was wonderful. it is subtle.

the art of nursing is an intangible presence and expression, unique to each nurse;

it's a form of unique dialogue- reflected by one's attributes of creativity, authenticity, advocacy, presence, empowerment and competence.

it recognizes cultural, spiritual, societal and human variance, and develops the skills necessary to acquire desired outcome.

it is not an absolute but is evolutionary and pliable but not touchable.

it is ultimately a sense of self, continually speculative but nurturing.

it creates safety with your patients.

it creates trust with your colleagues.

it creates confidence with your managers.

and it creates peace within yourself.

WashYaHands · Jul 30, 2004

Nursing is both a science and an art. Although these aspects are different, they are used collaboratively in the nursing process to provide a holistic approach to patient care.

Science consists of empirical knowledge. Empirical knowledge is systematic, factual evidence which is measurable. Scientific facts are learned through education and clinical experience.

The art of nursing is a unique area of nursing that is not measurable. It involves subjective information that is acquired through personal knowing, skill, and experience. The art of nursing is incorporated into patient care when the nurse uses her personal qualities, intuition, communication skills, critical thinking and knowledge. For example, when caring for patients the nurse assesses what it is in the patients life that is important to them, and what their greatest sources of strength are. The nurse uses this valuable information to make the patients environment comfortable which reduces internal and external stressors that may interfere with the healing process. Nurses educate their patients about illnesses or medical procedures using scientific facts. They incorporate the art of nursing into education when they actively listen to patients express fears and concerns. Once a nurse understands these concerns she can use an aesthetic approach to care for patients by developing individualized nursing interventions that will allow the patient to cope more effectively. Nurses apply critical thinking skills and artistic qualities in a holistic manner to treat the whole person, not just the illness. Nursing as an art is being able to look at both scientific facts and the individuality of the patient and incorporating these to provide patient care. Artistically and scientifically the nurse uses the nursing process and critical thinking skills to care for clients in a way that is dignified, meaningful and rewarding to the patient, their family, and the nurse.

I wrote this years ago as an undergraduate nursing student. It was a scholarship essay. It may sound a bit sappy now, but I think it still holds some basic truths.

Linda

Surgical Hrt RN · Jul 30, 2004

I believe there is an art to nursing and I also believe that it is something that cannot be taught! You either have it or you don't. I guess the best way for me to share my feelings about this is to share a poem that I wrote.

Who am I

Sitting with you, quietness engulfs us.

The silence is deafening, but comforting.

I brush back a hair from your face.

My mind is racing with many thoughts,

Did you once laugh and play?

Did you live and love?

Did you taste another's kiss?

Did your heart swell with love for someone?

Did you fulfill your wishes and your dreams?

Were you happy once, truly happy?

I hold your hand and wait.

Wait for peace to come,

Wait for comfort to come,

Wait for serenity to come.

A quiver, gently arises from within,

You gently yet weakly grip my hand

Then in a voice, just above a whisper, I hear you say

Thank you, quietly drifting off again,

Am I the husband, daughter, son, sister, brother,

No.....I am the nurse.

Tracey Jill Swindle, RN

Isn't this what it is all about! This displays the beauty and art of what we do!

zambezi, BSN, RN · Jul 30, 2004

Tracy--that is a beautiful poem. I agree with what everyone here has posted...I too think that nursing is both a science and an art. One poem that I found back in nursing school fits it well (but it is long so bear with me...)

I was found from the Journal of Emergency Nursing (I don't have what month though)

On Being a Nurse

Nursing produces knuckle-whitening, pulse-racing, palm-sweating fear on a regular basis, no matter how "seasoned" we are:

When your blood pressure is falling and the intravenous start depends on our expertise....when the man with the crusing chest pain is you, my neighbor...when the baby is coming and the doctor has not yet arrived. You will look at us with trusting eyes and ask if you are going to die; we will meet your eyes and answer" Not on my watch."

We will hold your hand as your view your son's broken body and beg him not leave, although you know he already has. We will weep with you for all the broken, unsalvageable sons and we will silently curse our dead of the night phone calls that will change your sleep forever.

We will accept your howls of protest at your too warm room and your too cold soup and recognize that you are protesting your terminal prognosis at age 39 years, or the cruelly unfulfilled promise of motherhood, or the permant loss of body symmetry that you have know since puberty.

While your physician cures your disease, we will care for your body, your mind, and sometimes, your soul. In the deep of the night, we will hear your confessions and seal our lips in the light of day to all you have confessed. We will pray with you and for you, even if our beliefs differ. We have seen people die despite our best efforts and live against all odds; we know what we do is not all there is to healing.

We will treat you with respect, although you remind us of our alcoholic uncles or abusive ex-husbands or the school bully who plagued us until we moved away. We will do so because you are someone's uncle or someone else's husband and they care about you or because no one cares for you at all.

When duty calls, we will rise from out Thanksgiving table or warm bed to see you safely to another hospital, and while the sirens wail above our heads, we will whisper softly about all of the reasons to hold on...such as Thanksgiving dinner and your own warm bed.

We will hold your fragile, elderly body when your relatives have abandoned you to your dementia; we will tell you it is okay to go and follow the light. We will hold your battered body and remind you that you are blameless. We will hold your tiny babies as small as our palms and urge them to live. Sometimes we will hold each other.

We will laugh at macrabe jokes that make our non-clinical co-workers blanche and leave the cafeteria table. We may, on occassion, seem overly joyous and oblivious to your pain while attempting to hide our own. We are, after all, human. It is our humanness that allows us to care for you. It is also our greatest vulnerability.

We will tend to your open sores and your infectious coughs and your unidentified rashes and hope that our personal protective equipment is all the manufacturer promised. We will try not to think of the ramifications of tuberculousis, HIV, and hepatitis A, B, C and D to our future and our families. Instead, we will scrub our hands a thousand times a day and wear bleach like the finest perfume.

We will teach you all about nutrition and good cholesteral while drinking too much coffee and eating too many delivered pizzas that turned cold while we answered yet another call for help. And when our day or evening or night is over, we will walk our calloused feet down the hall and out the door...but we won't go alone. You will go with us...your agonies and your joyful recoveries, your tearful good-byes and your jubilant reunions, your disappointments, and your great courage, your human failures and your newfound faith. You will go with us...always.

Anyway, some of the poem is a little mushy, but I think that alot of it is true...it stuck a cord in me when I was in nursing school and I still like to read it every now and then...

cwazycwissyRN, RN · Jul 30, 2004

it creates safety with your patients.
it creates trust with your colleagues.
it creates confidence with your managers.
and it creates peace within yourself.

Thanks earle58, nicely stated.

Rhoresmith · Jul 30, 2004

This thread came at a good time for me after finishing a grueling Pharmacology class and having a Father that has had nothing but problems after a routine surgery and feeling that maybe I should just shuck it all and go to work at the Hardee's down the road I needed this.... I feel that there is an art to Nursing many people can do all the science and get through school and the NCLEX test but they never get the "ART" of it. I have always said Nursing was my calling and many have looked at me like I was a nut but when I am in the role of nurse (even as a student) I feel I am were I am suppose to be Thank you all for the LIFT and regeneration I need for one more semester

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · Jul 30, 2004

Lots of good ideas here.

Think though that components of the "art" can be taught.

However, presentation and putting everything together smoothly and naturally is how a masterpiece is created.

Q. · Jul 30, 2004

Great essay, Linda! :)

The art of nursing is that what we can't articulate or measure, but you know it when you see it; it's the "thing" of nursing that makes us frustrated when people associate nurses with pure psychomotor skills and memorization.