Nursing through the Lens of Culture: A multiple gaze

Introduction

Nursing culture is a notion that may appear concrete, even simple to define, yet if researched and reflected on, sparks a complex variety of diverse definitions, descriptions and analyses. The culture of nursing can be compared to a kaleidoscope, a multifaceted lens that creates an unique image based on the interplay of illumination, reflection, and patterns. This concept embraces the rich complexity of each of the terms involved: both nursing and culture, as presented in selected literature.

Like the shifting kaleidoscopic mirrors, various disciplinary and philosophic lens can be used to analyze and savor nursing culture. These lens include disciplinary glimpses from anthropological and cultural studies theory, cultural psychology, postmodernism and postcolonialism which all help to explore nursing culture in unique ways.

Examining culture without context and process is a barren and meaningless exercise, thus nursing culture is viewed using these various lens to analyze:

cultural essence of nursing through specific disciplinary lens;
culture becoming through the process of nursing education;
cultural context where nurses' work is situated within larger organizational cultures;
cultural being where the nurse enters the rich world of clients and their families;
cultural knowing which reflects professional and research cultural activity; and
cultural shaping of nursing in preparation for the future.

NEXT: Cultural Essence....