| Learning Objective #1: Describe two examples of artful nursing from the perspective of persons who have been nursed in a cardiac care unit | |||
| Learning Objective #2: State three distinguishing features of an artful patient/nurse encounter |
Expert scientific/technical care is an expectation in a cardiac care unit, as well it should be. Quindlen (1997) writes about how amazing the technical system is and how rarely people complain about the technical quality of health care. What patients also say, however, is that they are often lost in the maze of technology, isolated from human contact, and sometimes treated without respect for who they are and what they wish to be. Nursing has long considered its practice as a “humanistic art’ -an art which is holistic and attends to the person as well as his/her response to disease. Concerns have been expressed about whether the ‘art’ of nursing has been ‘lost’ in the high technological, medically-driven, critical care environments like cardiac care (Watson, 1981; Cooper, 1993; Walters, 1995; Benner & Wrubel, 1989). The purpose of this inquiry is to describe nursing art within the context of a cardiac care unit. Specifically the study has 2 objectives: 1) to generate stories of when nursing was considered art from the perspective of persons who have been the recipients of that art during a critical illness; 2) to describe meanings made manifest by patients’ stories of artful nursing experience. The research question which this study addresses is “When is nursing art?” The results of this narrative inquiry with 12 adults will be presented in individual and collective themes, highlighted by individual stories. The aim of this study was to find and spotlight the artistry of nursing. The human, intricate and complex art of nursing distinguishes itself as a vibrant and deeply moving interactive art.
Cooper, M.C. (1993). The intersection of technology and care in the ICU. Advances in Nursing Science, 15 (3), 23-32. Quindlen, A. (1997). Schwartz center address. Unpublished Manuscript. Boston: Mass.
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