Artefact 1: Humanities in Teaching Nursing
This paper was written for my first course in my Master of Arts: Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) journey. While I had already begun integrating the humanities into my nursing instruction—particularly in post-conference discussions with students—this was my first in-depth exploration of what that meant for me, my teaching philosophy and my learners, and how I could implement it meaningfully and effectively using evidence-based approaches. Traditionally, nursing practice has often been shaped by routine and authority—doing things simply because that was how they had always been done and how we were told. Today, however, our standard of care emphasizes evidence-based practice and critical inquiry. I wanted to explore whether there was research and evidence to support my growing interest in integrating the humanities into nursing education.
Exploring the integration of humanities in nursing education through this paper was deeply meaningful to me, both academically and professionally. Although this graduate class was an introductory course focused on improving writing, I saw it as an early opportunity to reflect on and deepen my approach to teaching. I had initially felt the requirement of this course as a negative in my journey, I had failed my writing assessment. I was able to take what I saw as a negative and turn it into a positive. As a new student in the MAIS program with a focus on education and leadership, this paper allowed me to begin building a bridge between theory and practice, and between personal values and professional growth.
It aligned closely with my learning goals of developing a stronger understanding of adult education and interdisciplinary methods that support meaningful learning. It also helped clarify my professional goal of becoming a nurse educator who not only imparts knowledge and clinical skills but also promotes reflective practice, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence. The act of writing the paper—and the research that supported it—reaffirmed my belief that nursing is both a science and an art, and that meaningful learning in this field requires attention to both.
By emphasizing the value of humanities in nursing education, I began to see how these methods support the need to foster empathy, compassion, and self-awareness. These tools go beyond content delivery; they create learning environments that challenge assumptions and invite vulnerability. This has become increasingly valuable to me as my learning journey has encompassed the COVID-19 pandemic, where nurses faced overwhelming emotional demands and increasing rates of burnout. I saw normal people, leaders on the units, turn into uncaring negative nurses, quick to anger, shells of the happy loving people they once were. The need for holistic teaching approaches that prioritize wellness, reflection, and emotional resilience became even more apparent—not just for my students, but for myself as well.
This experience has pushed me to reimagine the classroom as a flexible and safe space, where students are encouraged to bring their full selves—thoughts, experiences, emotions—into their learning. By encouraging students to reflect on their feelings, values, and lived experiences through the use of arts, I can help them develop the emotional tools they’ll need to thrive in complex and often stressful clinical environments and become strong leaders for their team and for themselves. Ultimately, this paper affirmed my belief that leadership in nursing education involves creating spaces of care, creativity, and critical dialogue. These spaces must allow for the complexity of recognizing that nurses care for human beings, not just diagnoses, but these nurses are also human beings. As I continue my teaching career, I remain committed to integrating interdisciplinary and humanistic approaches that help cultivate reflective, compassionate nurse leaders who are not only competent, but deeply connected to the people they serve.