Donna Frost

Nature of professional artistry 201 6 It was just as bad as I had expected, and yet, less awful than I perhaps had imagined. I could see that he had bled but he was prettywell cleaned up. Pieter answered my questions, you know. About how these things go. Not that day immediately I don’t think, but when I asked, and he was very kind and honest. I was pleased he was there with my boy at the end. I imagine he [her son] was frightened, very frightened. And that having such a strong capable person there would have helped him know he would get through it, well, you know, not through it. But to cope with it happening how it did. I had imagined the most terrible things. There had been blood on my clothes and on the floor when I left the room, you see, and [shakes head]. Pieter asked me to tell him and I told him what I thought had happened, what it must have been like. […] And he said yes there was a lot of blood, and yes [my son] was frightened. But we were with him and we supported him, we talked with and someone held his hand. And that [my son] had worked with them and shown courage. [Short silence.] The real story was not as bad as I had imagined. Bad enough. Bad enough. But not as bad as how I thought. (NPI- 2014 Fam 10 Con-pp 4 - 5 ) In the first part of Mrs D’s story she shares the impact of Pieter being alongside, accompanying her and bearing witness to her shock and grief. Pieter’s supportive presence contributed to Mrs D finding the strengthwithin herself to go into the room to see her son. In the second part of the story it becomes more complicated. Pieter had hoped to protect Mrs D from the details of her son’s death. In conversation with Mrs D, and by asking her to share her thoughts about what had happened, it became clear to Pieter that Mrs D wanted to face her son’s suffering and to honour his courage. He realised, as well, that she was imagining a death more cruel than the reality had been. Pieter’s decision to answer Mrs D’s questions honestly took courage on his part and enabled a transformation of her narrative of the event. Honesty and authenticity, when combined with caring, are aspects of this pattern of engagement that enable nurses practicing with artistry to offer challenge supportively: challenging a particular belief or standpoint, helping to explore alternatives, encouraging a patient to try again or to look squarely at the consequences, or possible consequences, of his actions.