Abstract
I found this to be an enjoyable and interesting paper to read. The author’s description of the journey to writing this review was both amusing and touching, and gave a nice personal insight. The image of a flame burning also nicely recalls the lady of the lamp, a very apt image for this piece.
This review has given me a broader view of the role and place of poetry in nursing practice and education, and suggested another interesting aspect of nursing care. As a student, I have been encouraged to consider the ‘soft skills’ of practice and I think that this consideration of poetry gives a good oversight on a potentially peripheral aspect of nursing. Furthermore, the consideration of the emotions of those receiving nursing care aligns nicely with the ideas of person-centred care. Nursing a person’s emotions, and connecting to them, is an important aspect of what I feel a nurse should attempt to do. The author makes a good argument that poetry has a more significant place in nursing than one might think.
On reflecting on the desire of nursing to define itself as a independent profession, the author’s comments about poetry providing an additional narrative to evidence-based practice are well worthy of consideration. This certainly ties in with the idea of nursing having an art to it, as well as a science. As nurses, we ourselves will become more complete as people and practitioners if we consider aspects beyond the science of the person in front of us. This emotional growth I feel also aligns with person-centred practice and can be facilitated by the use of poetry as a learning and expressive tool.
Despite the fairly informal nature of the paper, it appears to be methodologically sound. I recreated the search strategy for the first search detailed and came up with much the same number of results. The aims (however informal) are detailed, as are the limitations of the research and suggestions for further study. The author acknowledges that this review did not aim to be comprehensive, and I feel the paper does not suffer for this brief overview. Indeed, an in-depth discussion of the minutiae of poetry may well have been beyond the comprehension and interest of this reviewer and detracted from an interesting general discussion.
As a call to arms for the inclusion of poetry within nursing education and practice, this paper certainly achieves its aims and helps to highlight an alternative view of nursing care. By considering the emotional aspect of the care we provide, we will be better placed to develop ourselves as nurses, and to help those we nurse.