Integrating esthetics into nursing: literature as a suggested modality

In this article the author argues for the importance of reintegrating the neglected pattern of esthetics into the teaching and practice of nursing. Approaching art as both a means and end, the essay illustrates, how art can inform the specialty. By exposure to selected literary works, nurses can vicariously achieve understanding of human conditions that they could not otherwise experience. Through the art act, nurses can examine the depths of their interventions, identify them, and creatively center themselves. Integrating esthetics into nursing education and collaborating with colleagues in the field of humanities can invigorate a discipline in search of identity and justification during a time of professional turbulence.