Background Caring is grounded on universal humanistic values such as kindness, empathy, concern and love for self and others. Nurses need to learn how to implement these values in the care for patients. Nursing students find it hard to assimilate theoretical knowledge in practice. Experiential learning in the form of drama has been used in several studies to enhance nursing students' learning. Aim The aim of this study was to review empirical and theoretical articles on the use and application of drama in nursing education. Design An integrative review of the literature.MethodThe databases CINAHL, PubMed, ProQuest and Academic search elite were searched for articles. Result The search generated 64 articles, with 20 articles meeting the inclusive criteria. Three themes with their attendant subthemes emerged through the analysis. The themes are: The Framing, The Objectives and The Embodiment. Conclusion Drama is effective in entry level courses in nursing education to enhance student learning and can be flexible and adjusted to various contexts. Further research using drama to enroll nursing students as fictive patients and relatives and thereby explore different perspectives is suggested, and more research on the application of drama in nursing education at an advanced level is required.

The ability to understand, interact and create a caring relationship with the patient is a core component in nursing. A shift in nursing education from traditional classroom teaching towards more experiential approaches should be encouraged as this will support learning that links theory with practice. The aim of this study was to describe nursing students' experiences of learning about nursing through drama. This qualitative study was conducted at a university in Sweden. Four focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 16 nursing students and the data was analyzed using a phenomenographic approach.Three themes with their attendant categories emerged through the analysis: "To explore the future professional self", "To develop an understanding of the patient perspective", and "To reflect on the nature of learning". In conclusion this study shows that the use of drama in nursing education can provide opportunities to explore interactions with others which can increase students' self-awareness and ability to reflect on their future professional identity. Acting in role as a patient can provide an opportunity to experience the patient perspective. Also clear was the importance of commitment and engagement ofthe students as a prerequisite for optimizing this form of learning experience through drama