Medical Xpress May 13, 2022
When Gillian Lemermeyer decided at age 17 to become a nurse, she was following in her mother’s footsteps, so she expected her mom to be thrilled when she told her the news.
“I was surprised when she grew very serious,” Lemermeyer remembers. “She said, ‘OK, but do you understand what it means to be looking after people in this way?'”
Many years later, after working as a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse and now as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Nursing, Lemermeyer understands the depth of her mother’s question.
“What happens between a nurse and a patient is more than a transactional thing,” she says. “Built in is the significance of the privilege we have as nurses...