Aesthetics in Nursing Practice and Education

Abstract

Nursing's historical commitment to holistic ways to come to know and understand through multiple modes of awareness necessitates an expansion of nursing assessment, intervention, and educational strategies. Aesthetic modalities in nursing practice expand our understanding of the human condition of the clients for whom we care and enhance our awareness of the meaning of being alive in health-illness situations. As a method of assessment and intervention, aesthetics provides unique means through which clients and nurses can explore personal perceptions of aspects of their world and fosters a creative sense of self-awareness. It is proposed that aesthetic techniques in nursing practice and education bring forth unique patterns of understanding that defy conventional communication and nursing therapeutic techniques. Further, the use of aesthetics in nursing practice begins during the educative process. The incorporation of aesthetic knowing into nursing education fosters caring, compassion, and fluidity in practice.