For some time I have been writing about narrative practice and promoting this way of working as a compassionate approach to nursing. It does not belong to nursing but is a good way to develop and make visible the evidence for nursing practice. When we talk about narrative practice we do not mean narrative therapy just as when we talk about compassion we do not mean compassion focused therapy. As therapies these are more rigid ways of working that can actually exclude some ways of working, that many of us consider everyday compassionate nursing practice.

The world of evidence to support practice is often expected to follow strict research criteria  and I have previously blogged about why this does not always fit with compassionate nursing practice. Narrative practice provides the space to explore in more detail,  the many influences upon our lives that affect our thoughts and behaviour. Narrative practice is similar to reflective practice which we are all aware of as a learning tool. Narrative practice however explores more than our everyday practice and can include the arts, policy, law, theories and even philosophy.  See my posts on /references to Martha Nussbaum.

Waugh & Donaldson (2016) in a study  on using digital narratives to teach student nurses compassionate care found that listening to these rich narratives helped student to not only reflect upon their own practice but also to prepare for their placements better. Narrative practice can help us to become more reflective about our own practice but rather than keep it to ourselves, encourages us to share our reflections with others  so that we can create a strong narrative of compassionate care.

For more information on narrative practice see this free online journal that is a medical journal but always has a narrative medicine section in it – Click here for link to  The Permanente Journal .