What sort of field is 'nursing'? (i)

. . . It is NOT 'relaxed'.

My copy of Harris (2015) is secondhand, £8.50 from 'Green Ink' in Hay-on-Wye last November. 

Apparently, the (professional - high-level) study of mathematics is a relaxed field. McCleary reviews the book and the good, truth, and beauty of mathematics; 'relaxed field' relates to the latter:

Mathematics without Apologies:
Portrait of a Problematic Vocation

"That leaves beauty, the deepest source for Hardy, and the most challenging motivation for mathematical activity. Challenging because it calls into question how external support of mathematics is justified. Hardy tells us that “a mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns.” Throwing mathematicians in with the painters and poets leads to justification of mathematics as an art. Harris situates his discussion of beauty in the notion of play. Play needs to take place in a “relaxed field,” a notion introduced by ethologist Gordon Burghardt to describe animal behavior when not preoccupied with food, mating, territory, or predators—'the opposite of stress.'"

John McCleary, Book Review, NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 65, NUMBER 10 pp.1280-1283. https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201810/rnoti-p1280.pdf 

Talk of absolutes is common in mathematics. There is absolutely no mathematician involved in the writing of this post and others. That said, I have been privileged to work in a 'relaxed' manner.* When I trained mental health and then general nursing, we were part of the 'numbers' on the duty-rota. Your presence was not just a matter of learning, there were concrete things - tasks - to do. Completing the Community Psychiatric Nursing Certificate course 1987-8, involved a secondment to another community team (thank you Bolton!). My caseload was left to the support of colleagues, so I could concentrate on the course. A course in which Brian Hodges (not Wilfred Hodges - the  logician) taught his eponymous model. Post-Project 2000 with nurse education an undergraduate pursuit, students were designated supernumerary. Student nurse finances are precarious, worthy of a post in itself. 

If relaxed and stress are opposites, nurses would seek to be 'relaxed'** suffice to have the time and resources to deliver care safely, professionally and to a high standard. Adequate time + resources also brings a dividend: person-centredness, health promotion and education, preventing relapse. As it stands, however, for nurses be they students or qualified, nursing is far from relaxed.

tbc... ii

Harris, M. (2015) Mathematics without Apologies: Portrait of a Problematic Vocation. Princeton University Press.

*But without the charisma Harris describes.

**The notion of slack resource could be applied, space for creativity and innovation in assessment, planning, interventions (case formulation) and evaluation.

See also: 'Four Fields'