Binetti: “The nurse’s work was not properly considered”

“We often ask ourselves what distinguishes the specificity of the nurse’s care work. The answer is the profound asymmetry of the care action: the nurse arrives where the patient cannot arrive”. Thus Paola Binetti, professor emeritus of History of Medicine, speaking at the symposium at the Campus Bio-Medico University (UCBM) of Rome on the occasion of the launch of the new master’s degree course in Nursing and Obstetric Sciences at the university, explains that “the nurse works in a context in which extreme fragility leads to the inability to perform basic functions, in a care relationship in the deepest sense of the term. The extraordinary power of the nurse with respect to the fragility of the patient should compensate for the ingratitude of the system. The nurse’s work is not correctly considered. Unfortunately, we do not calculate the cost of quality”.

The patient “wants to be well cared for – adds Binetti – he wants quality care” that “is achieved through the relationship with the nurse. Through this figure, fragility, personal weakness, becomes strength, with the knowledge of new previously unknown abilities. It is the nurse who makes this transition. The synthesis between the classic dimension of the hospital and the innovative dimension of the territory is represented by the home nurse, who represents a page yet to be written. In this case, the nurse’s knowledge translates – he concludes – into a concrete response” to the need for health.