It would be impossible to count the times that a literary work enters a conversation of an educated person in reference to another's comment about life. So often the one can refer the other to this poem, or novel, or story as a comfort or an explanation for problems and questions. There is no solace so great as a book, at that moment of wonder.
My mom just retired from 40 years of working as an RN at the same hospital. She is an avid reader of literature. For her literature is an escape from the often very difficult life and death situations she dealt with at work.
For someone who is currently in nursing school, I would suggest that well-written literature can help a nursing student become more articulate, give them a topic for conversations with future patients (to take their minds off procedures or pain), and...
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can broaden their exposure to various cultures and traditions, many of which they will probably encounter in the very multicultural health field that now exists.
On many levels, this is a challenging question. I think that the idea of literature in nursing is useful in its approach of expanding the scope of one's sense of compassion. The overriding element which seems to be present in all literature is the inclusion of sadness and struggle. This is something that is intrinsic to a nursing profession which strives to overcome both in the lives of their patients. Health care professionals can benefit from reading literature in that it might allow them to be abler to articulate another tool in their struggle to overcome individual pain and suffering. Seeing how writers and their works addresses human agony and struggle might give health care professionals a mental or intellectual tool to articulate this to their patients or to one another.