Nurse

NURSE: n. : a person who cares for the sick or infirm

First appearing in English in the thirteenth century, nurse identified “a woman who nourishes or suckles and infant.” It could also mean “foster mother of a young child.” Having come into the language from French bearing the very same meaning, it traces its origin to the Latin nutrix, “wet nurse.”

However, by the fifteenth century, it also came to mean “one who protects nurtures, trains, or cherishes” or, more specifically, “a female servant who has care of a child or children,” that is, “a dry-nurse.” Not until Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors does the following appear: “I will attend my husband, be his nurse, Diet his sickness, for it is my Office.” (V.i.99) For the first time, nurse is used to indicate a “person who takes care of sick or infirm persons.”

For centuries since then nurses have appeared as caregivers to the ill and the infirm. Whether wearing the white habit of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, the starched caps of fifty years ago, or the colorful scrubs of today, they work devotedly with those who need their ministrations to recover health or simply survive the night. They treat all patients: those who appreciate them as well as those who argue with and berate them. To serve is their calling.

When my wife gave birth to our son at 39, nurses encouraged and comforted her as she endured eighteen hours of labor as I prayed they would. But they also attended to me as a very nervous first-time father. They accomplish their work with a combination of medical expertise that clearly approaches that of a specialist and the personal attentiveness of a parent. They attend to the care of the body as well as the spirit.

Thirty-six years later, in the aftermath of knee replacement surgery, I received the care of a series of nurses in three different hospitals within three weeks. A male nurse in the emergency department, a major in the air force reserves, helped me understand that I had suffered a heart attack and encouraged my family. Nurses in my hospital room attended me with cheer, explaining prescriptions never-seen doctors prescribed. Registered nurses prepped me for a heart catheterization, laughing and joking with me.

That behavior may sound odd or inappropriate, but real nursing is not precisely like what is shown on TV where nurses are often background players. In those dramatized productions, doctors visit patients multiple times after surgeries and connect with them on deeply personal levels. In fact, nurses make those connections, getting to know the patient as a person, often speaking with family members or visitors. As generalists, they have more encompassing role to play than do doctors the patient may only see a few times.

In Shakespeare’s time, a wife might serve as her husband’s nurse, as does my wife now. But professional nursing can require four years of training that includes a bachelor’s degree for those aspiring to become a registered nurse. Of course, a student may alternatively earn an associate degree in nursing, but both require serious demanding studies. These include such course work as anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pharmacology, pathophysiology, and ethics. Still, the job demands not only such academic expertise but also emotional intelligence, empathy, and other personal skills.

Nursing is an underappreciated profession. Though hospitals would come to a standstill without them, they do not enjoy the status of doctors who do invest more time and money in training. Still, a nurse’s smile and personable manner can make a great difference in a patient’s recovery. I know.