Koru (fern frond) philosophy

This figure illustrates my philosophy of nursing –  Developed 2004 

The koru, ‘tail’ represents the spiral of a of an unwinding moment in time (unfurling of the fern frond) shared by  the patient, whanau, community and myself- we are in this together… working through the health related event that caused our paths to cross. The ‘arm’ on the right side of the figure, spirals upward towards the sky and moves away from the tight spiral where it started. This arm represents the ‘other’ (patient, whanau, community) going off on their own journey. The left side ‘arm’ note, is not joined to the main ‘body’ of the spiral. This arm represents me and my moving away from the combined journey with the ‘other’. The time together has finished and I too reach upwards. The fern frond in the middle represents the shared knowledge we have grown together. I have learned new knowledge from this experience as has the other. Our shared knowledge stays in the middle between us.