Biotechnology: Digital revolution and aesthetic knowledge in nursing

Abstract

Background: Aesthetic knowledge in nursing has been challenged by the increasing importance of cutting-edge biotechnologies in care processes. Objective: This article aims to reflect on the new possibilities of thinking and knowledge in nursing brought about by biotechnologies and the digital revolution, starting from Barbara Carper’s perspective on aesthetic knowledge in nursing. Main topics under analysis: Biotechnologies, aesthetic knowledge in nursing, empathic relationship. Conclusion: The aesthetic component of care, as an organizing anchor, provides meaning and supports clinical nursing practice in contexts of technological hybridism. The idea of an embodied technology points towards a different way of systematizing knowledge that allows overcoming the dichotomy between aggressive technology and humanistic nursing care.