Guest Editorial

Abstract

The idea for this special issue came about as a result of a meeting at the 2016 Royal College of Nursing (RCN) International Research Conference where we both presented our research through the medium of poetry. Coincidentally for us, Gary Rolfe opened the conference with a keynote called 'More poetry is needed'. Gary's concluding remarks suggested that nursing research should broaden its scope to encompass a wider variety of scholarly activities, and nurse academics should not forget that they are first and foremost nurses. This resonated very strongly with what we were trying to do, which was to connect with peoples' personal narratives, promote empathy and engage with the art of nursing as a way of knowing (Carper, 1978).