Donna Frost

Chapter 6 208 At the centre are the ontological and praxiological assumptions the nurse brings to the encounter, embodied and embedded in his, her or their practices. The patterns of engagement grow from and are made possible by this particular way of seeing, being doing and becoming. The swirling colours represent movement and energy and as the patterns of engagement work together the underlying and surrounding situation is changed. The spinning patterns of engagement push centrifugally at the boundaries of becoming and start to change them. The extent and dimension of these changes are indeterminate and remain so, as is shown by the lack of hard boundary to the edge of the spiralling patterns. Nevertheless, the space for becoming, for incremental changes to the patient’s and the nurse’s ontology and way of being and doing in the world, is enlarged. Concluding remarks In this chapter the findings concerning the nature of professional artistry in nursing have been presented. A wide variety of textual data and creative expressions, generated within practice situations and within inquiry meetings during the course of both the RN and NP inquiries, has been presented to support the findings. The findings are these. Professional artistry in nursing practice is evident within the practice of nurses whose world view accepts and values this way of being and becoming. Although involved in a large variety of clinical and interpersonal activities relevant to their clinical specialty, the professional artistry of the nurse in question is characterized by five patterns of engagement recognizable in their practice: a nurse practising with professional artistry creates a safe, sheltered space within which the nursing encounter or encounters can occur; they work with the salient parts of the situation while keeping hold of and taking account of the whole; they are present in the now while working as well with that which is yet to be; they are committed to the ideal and they take, or enable others to take, transformative action. The consequence of working in this way is an expansion of the space for becoming: the nurse with professional artistry is recognized by the other as playing an active role in this process yet the changed perspective and new possibilities for action are now part of the patient, resident, family member, colleague or student’s way of seeing, being and becoming. In the following chapter the findings concerning the facilitation of professional artistry in nursing will be described.