Creativity in Nursing Care: A Concept Analysis

Area of Science:

• Nursing Science
• Healthcare Innovation
• Concept Analysis

Background:

• Creativity is crucial for advancing nursing practice and patient care.
• A clear conceptual understanding of creativity in nursing is needed.
• Existing literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of this concept.

Purpose of the Study:

• To perform a concept analysis of creativity in nursing care.
• To utilize the Walker and Avant (2019) concept analysis approach.
• To define the attributes and implications of creativity in nursing.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across multiple databases (PubMed, Scopus, etc.) from 2000-2018.
• Hand searching of reference lists for additional relevant articles.
• Application of Walker and Avant's eight-stage concept analysis framework to 37 selected articles.

Main Results:

• Creativity in nursing care is defined by mental fluidity and the generation of new, simple, useful, efficient, affordable, and safe patient care ideas.
• Key elements include creative vision, sensitivity, and thinking, supported by a conducive environment, motivation, and divergent thinking skills.
• Creativity positively impacts clinical decision-making, organizational effectiveness, and quality of care.

Conclusions:

• Creativity is an essential component for nurses to improve patient care quality and drive change.
• The findings provide an educational guide for nurses and a basis for future research and tool development.
• Further exploration of creativity in other clinical practice areas is recommended.