PDF (PhD Thesis) - UWE Research Repository - University of the ...

underpinning it. On subsequent sessions where I shared the poems the
quality of the conversation always changed like this.
The Ageism poem includes my own experience many years ago when my
mother was hospitalised and subsequently died. It again highlights the
emotional labour of nursing and the politics and language of elderly care. I
suddenly realised that although the poems came from others‘ stories there
was usually a resonance with my own past experience. Therefore, the
poems are both my personal experience and the experience of the student
nurse; they represent first (personal) and second person (relational)
inquiry. Later I realised they may contain aspects of the habitus and field
of nursing. I noticed I felt very vulnerable when sharing my poems and
eventually saw this as an example of using my vulnerability as strength 20 ,
a finding of this inquiry relating to reflecting-in-action. I noticed sharing how
I felt in the moment with the students was another important part of the
process.
The Wounded Nurse
He pulls a knife
And the nurse is scared
She was trying to help him
Feeling now unprepared
For this attack
Which leaves her speechless
Let down by the system
Alone, coping with the mess
Managers and medics come to watch
Security guards and police pin him down
Feeling sorry for him in all this mayhem
Though anger escapes through the perplexed frown
What now it‘s all over?
Back to work with a merry smile
Keep busy, busy, there‘s lots to do
Not noticing the stomach still full of bile
Clare Hopkinson 10/7/04
20 This finding will be discussed more fully in chapter 7
89