By E’Louise Ondash, RN, contributor
Nov. 2, 2009 - Patty Magee, RN, BA, believes that colored pencils can help heal, and combining art and nursing has been a lifelong goal.
“I have firm beliefs that healing comes to the unhealthy who participate in creative arts,” said the nurse-artist who has, for nearly four decades, dreamed of melding art and science to help patients. “I’ve wanted to be a nurse and an artist since I was 5 years old, but I didn't realize at the time that creativity was a therapeutic modality that could be used in nursing.”
Magee, a psychiatric nurse in an outpatient setting at Baptist Medical Center South in Jacksonville, Fla., is one of a growing number of nurses using additional talents and creative endeavors to bring pleasure, peace and less pain to patients.
“We know that being creative can affect the immune system positively, and the bedside would be the natural place for [creating art] for those that can participate,” said Magee, who earned a degree in fine arts after her children were grown. “Bedside art can instill hope in these patients and improve their quality of life.”
Magee is excited about the pilot project she has started, thanks to funding from Baptist Medical’s foundation. Her first order of business is to educate nurses about bedside art, how it can help patients, and the type of patients who are capable of participating. Good candidates include patients with long or frequent hospital stays, such as those with cancer or undergoing dialysis.
Unit nurses will refer patients to Magee, who already has used art to help clients in the psychiatric outpatient center.
“This is not considered art therapy,” she clarified, “but my last project was with a 23-year-old woman with substance abuse problems. She was struggling with getting an image of a higher power, so she did a collage to help strengthen her faith. She needed to feel as if there were something out there helping her and the collage helped her do that.”
Magee’s first project for patients may be painting silk scarves.
“I can’t wait to try it,” she said. “It requires no talent because all you have to do is push color into the fabric. I tried it with the nurses and have been very successful.”
Nurses should be able to do more than administer drugs and perform conventional treatments, she added.
“Not everyone will want to do this, but …bedside art gives nurses another option for the comfort of their patients.”
Almost everyone has some type of God-given talent and can use it to bring joy and alleviate pain, believes Susan Williams, MSN, RN, a community health instructor at the University of South Alabama College of Nursing in Mobile.
A nurse for 21 years, Williams has played the flute for more than 30 years for patients in nursing homes, mental health and Alzheimer’s units, hospitals, hospice and assisted-living facilities.
“Sometimes I bring a hymnal from church or do old show tunes or other classics they like,” Williams said. “It’s great to do with Alzheimer’s patients because it sparks their memory, and mental health patients always ask me when I’m going to come back. You need to do things that will reach them and music reaches them.”
Williams began using music while conducting research in a nursing home and “felt this was the perfect place to share my talent.”
She and a social worker who played guitar joined forces and entertained patients when their work for the day was done. Eventually they performed at holiday celebrations and open houses.
“The patients got so much out of it,” William said, “and I get a lot of joy out of playing. If others enjoy it, then it’s a win-win situation.”
Sandra Mattingly, RN, found her singing talent through adversity.
In 1996, she suffered multiple serious injuries in a car accident and thought she’d never work again in nursing. After four years of therapy and much determination, Mattingly, who works at Prattville Baptist Hospital near Montgomery, Ala., was able to return to work.
One evening, she sang an old hymn, “Farther Along,” to a dying patient and “I saw the fear leave her eyes,” she said. Mattingly later was asked to sing at the funeral.
Then one day, the sixth of a seven-day stint, she was exhausted and asked God, “Let me make it just one more day.” That moment inspired her to write and perform an original song, “Just One Day,” for which Mattingly has received many compliments.
“I started singing to cancer patients and they stopped thinking of themselves as cancer,” she said. “This song is in such demand; I have to get it made it into a CD.”
Williams believes that it is vital for nurses to use their talents.
“Patients need to see that there is another side of you besides a nurse and you can reach out to them that way,” she said. “If you find something that makes you happy, others will sense your joy.”
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