Learning Objective #1: Discuss the art of nursing as it applies to nursing education and practice

Learning Objective #2: Explore how creating art can enhance the practice of nursing

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At the beginning of my teaching career, I was very content driven. As the years passed, I noted that my students seemed to be missing the "big picture". The students became proficient at assessment and the technical aspects of nursing care but when I would ask "how did this illness impact your client and their family?" the students would either reiterate the pathophysiologylogy or (more often) would give me a blank look. They were not comprehending the fact that their patients were individuals with families and lives apart from their illness and could not be defined by their disease. I began to fear that the art of nursing was somehow being lost. In an attempt to emphasize the art of nursing and enhance student's creative potential, a creative clinical assignment that integrates the art and science of nursing was developed. This assignment requires that the student look at the child and try to "feel" how the child's illness/condition has affected his/her life and the life of their family. The student must find some way to creatively express this "feeling" so that it can be demonstrated/described to their classmates. This presentation will challenge nursing faculty and staff to look at their nursing practice from a fresh perspective, that of a student. By sharing the student's "art" of nursing, it is believed that the art of nursing will be ignited or rekindled. Some of the projects that I will share have made me laugh, many have made me cry and all have left me in awe of the capacity that student's have to depict that human element that is so critical to include in nursing care.