Abstract
Since COVID, and perhaps before, science has come to the fore with some regarding scientists, such as those who developed the COVID vaccines as having saved the world. Metaphors (and similes) come from the Arts, and therefore to some extent this paper is showing the strength of an Arts approach, when Science is to the fore. The debate about whether nursing is an art or a science, has been long and in some ways tedious (Peplau, 1988). Tedious, because it has always been self-evident that nursing is both an art and science, both being melded and used interchangeably in the application to practice (Vega and Hayes, 2019). In the late 20th century, nursing degrees were either BAs or BScs, and the majority decision to move to BNs or BNurs qualifications was the right one (Lawton, 1993).
Metaphors and similes have been used in nursing for some time (Campbell, 1980). Nursing models are a good example. Martha Rogers’ model of nursing is metaphorical. The Science of Unitary Human Beings (SUHB) regards the human being as an irreducible energy field in constant, inseparable interaction with the universal environment, which is also an energy field (Whelton, 1979). The theory was not well understood at the time of its development, and the metaphor of energy fields was brought into disrepute. However, timing is everything, and the metaphor is embraced differently now (Kabusi et al., 2024).
A good example of the use of simile in nursing practice is of bone marrow being like a factory that produces blood, including red and white cells and platelets. The simile being that bone marrow is like a factory. The simile works well to assist patients to understand illnesses, like leukaemia, and the treatment of cancer (McKay and Schacher, 2009).
The utility of metaphors in this paper (Saatçi and Akın, 2025). is based upon whether the metaphors and their grouping has meaning to nurses. And, given that science is to the fore, whether this is the right time for Arts approaches like these to be adopted. The notion of ‘Missed Care’ is based upon the need to, or strive to, ensure that all necessary care is completed. There is a need to measure before and after the use of these metaphors in the future to show that they can have efficacy. If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it, you need to be able to track changes in performance (Carlon and Combs, 2005).
