Donna Frost

Chapter 7 230 a greater awareness of our own power. We became more aware of the impact we had in the lives of our clients and patients, and as well in the experiences of students and new professionals, sometimes even with older and more experienced colleagues, who worked with us. We became aware of the fact that we exerted influence, and that we carried the means within us to work in ways which affirmed and helped others on their own journeys. Furthermore, we had tools and strategies at our disposal for making the contribution of practising with professional artistry visible for others. We have to stand proud No one can stand there for us. Busy, everybody, everywhere, pressure It is perception. It is howwe choose to look at it. Yes I’m busy, busy doing what I want. Decide: you decide, I decide, we decide: What is worth doing? Do that. (FP-NPI-Mtg 10 -Rec 2 , 3 of 7 ) Two practice examples are presented to illustrate reaching this milestone. In the first the nurse passes up the chance, in fact does not recognise the chance, to articulate her holistic and person-centred approach. Although there were elements of professional artistry evident in her practice with the patient, her adoption of a technical approach to the handover rendered her earlier contribution to patient care not only invisible but left both her and the patient with an uncomfortable feeling that something had gone wrong. The second example illustrates how the same nurse, at a later stage in her career and within the CCCI, was able to concisely articulate the goals and value of the more intangible aspects of practice. The first example concerns Jane, a registered nurse within the RNI, looking back on an experience she had had when she worked as a staff nurse on an orthopaedic ward, in a previous workplace. “I was nursing a woman, in her late 60 ’s. She had a broken ankle after a fall. During the operation to repair it her blood pressure had dropped badly and it had been difficult to stabilize her again. She had been frightened by hearing of this during the handover from the recovery room to the ward. So during my whole shift I kept a reasonably close eye on her