Knowledge for Nursing Practice- a Narrative
Narrative:
There she was sitting in her wheelchair getting wheeled off, her son guiding her as she passed by the ward and staff with a big smile on her face. With a final wave to the nurses and other staff, she was gone. Finally, she was going home. The nurses, her son and daughter have all waited for that moment. She was feeling better than before and could go back to her life outside the hospital. Joyce was not like this the first time I met her. She had been through a lot since she got here and she deserved that moment.
This woman with a head full of grey, thinning hair was in her own room with her petite frame curled up on her bed. She was quiet. When she was introduced to the student nurses who were caring for her, she replied with an eager smile. She was initially here for a hemiarthroplasty on her left leg and a pleural tap but unfortunately, she also had stage IV lung cancer. On top of that, she lost her husband three days before the student nurses got there. She was such a lovely woman and very positive with life, which made people think if she was a really strong lady or she was masking what she really felt. Or maybe it was acceptance. She even shared with the nurses that she felt it was wrong that her husband died before she did because she was the terminally ill out of the two of them. She even shared with the nurses that it was really hard to be in the hospital and be grieving at the same time because she was mostly alone all day. All she had were the nurses and once they started talking to her about her loss, she felt that she was not alone anymore. She shared that it was around this time that she started being positive about everything and that it was because of the empathy the nurses showed and their presence helped her cope with the situation. Joyce also shared that being positive really helped her not only emotionally but also physically. She shared that when she started being positive about everything, she started asking to be wheeled around in
There she was sitting in her wheelchair getting wheeled off, her son guiding her as she passed by the ward and staff with a big smile on her face. With a final wave to the nurses and other staff, she was gone. Finally, she was going home. The nurses, her son and daughter have all waited for that moment. She was feeling better than before and could go back to her life outside the hospital. Joyce was not like this the first time I met her. She had been through a lot since she got here and she deserved that moment.
This woman with a head full of grey, thinning hair was in her own room with her petite frame curled up on her bed. She was quiet. When she was introduced to the student nurses who were caring for her, she replied with an eager smile. She was initially here for a hemiarthroplasty on her left leg and a pleural tap but unfortunately, she also had stage IV lung cancer. On top of that, she lost her husband three days before the student nurses got there. She was such a lovely woman and very positive with life, which made people think if she was a really strong lady or she was masking what she really felt. Or maybe it was acceptance. She even shared with the nurses that she felt it was wrong that her husband died before she did because she was the terminally ill out of the two of them. She even shared with the nurses that it was really hard to be in the hospital and be grieving at the same time because she was mostly alone all day. All she had were the nurses and once they started talking to her about her loss, she felt that she was not alone anymore. She shared that it was around this time that she started being positive about everything and that it was because of the empathy the nurses showed and their presence helped her cope with the situation. Joyce also shared that being positive really helped her not only emotionally but also physically. She shared that when she started being positive about everything, she started asking to be wheeled around in
References: Bourgeois, S., Drayton, N. & Brown, A. (2010). An innovative model of supportive clinical teaching and learning for undergraduate nursing students: The Cluster Model. Nurse Education in Practice, 11(2), 114-118. Croxon, L. & Maginnis, C. (2009). Evaluation of clinical teaching models for nursing practice. Nurse Education in Practice, 9(4), 236-243. Guo, M. (2010). Experience as a patient will enhance nurses practice. Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand, 15(11), 20-21. Smith, K. (2006). Appreciation of Holistic Nursing. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 24(2), 139. Sørlie, V., Torjuul, K., Ross, A. & Kihlgren,M. (2006). Satisfied patients are also vulnerable patients – narratives from an acute care ward. Journal of Clinical Nursing 15, 1240 -1246. Spence, D. & Smythe, E. (2008). Feeling like a nurse: Re-calling the spirit of Nursing. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 26(4,) 243-252.