Ways of seeing: using the visual arts in nursing education

Professional nursing defines its foundation of practice as embedded in the sciences and humanities of a liberal education. This liberal education is commonly alluded to with the phrase "the art and science of nursing." Yet how do we as nursing educators integrate these two concepts? This article describes a method of integrating the humanities as part of an innovative clinical experience. A defined visual art experience was used to improve professional nursing students' observational and communication skills, narrative sequencing abilities, and empathy. The nursing and medical literature describing the use of visual art encounters in health care education is reviewed. The incorporation of an art education program into the curriculum of a cohort of accelerated baccalaureate nursing students is described. Qualitative evaluation measures from the students suggest this was an experience that broadened their understanding of patient encounters.