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Recently I discovered in Native American medicine the otter, as a
shamanic belief, represents ‗woman medicine‘ where fear, anger and
jealousy games do not feature in relationships with others. She represents
beautiful womanly energy which cares unconditionally. Yet in previous
chapters I have shown how much these games and feelings are present in
the ward and how this can help to keep nurses feeling powerless and
demoralised. The otter character traits are to always be on the move and
curious. She is full of joy for others representing sisterhood and balanced
female energy with power. What has this image to do with nursing and
reflecting in the workplace? I suggest these images are a way of making
sense of some of the tensions that nurses may face in attempting to
change nursing practice through their reflective processes. The otter might
actually represent the reflexive nurse who has gained a sense of her own
systemic agency and is willing to put her head above the parapet. Agency
can take many forms including taking in the wider world and picture as
Jane described it. The nurse must be able to reflect on the complexity of
the political aspects of care in a complex fragmented environment such as
the NHS. Complexity here does not mean complicated although this might
be the case rather it refers to the inter-relationship, interaction and
interconnectivity of the different parts of the system and between the
system (Mitleton-Kelly 2003).
The images above show visually the personal and private aspects of
reflecting are a political act which is context specific and dependant on the
relations with the rest of the nurses. We have questioned an abdication of
responsibility as a possible function of the team dynamic. Would it be more
effective if all the otters were standing up together? Are they like squashed
bricks without a sense of community as the Alone poem above suggests?
Or a sisterhood providing a trusting, helpful and solid collaborative working
environment in which each person is valued for the part they play in the
whole?
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