Nursing the clinic and managing emotions in a fertility unit: findings from an ethnographic study

This paper presents the findings from an ethnographic study of a fertility unit. Data were collected using participant observation and semi-structured interviews over a period of 2 years. Fifteen patients and 23 members of staff were interviewed. Data analysis was completed using a modified thematic analysis. The findings indicated that the emotions evoked by infertility and medical treatments were powerful and frightening. Patients managed their emotions privately although they were conscious of an emotional awareness by nurses, which they described as 'caring'. Nurses were associated strongly with caring and their role was primarily to manage emotions; however, to do this, nurses used non-caring (emotional distance) rather than caring. Nurses were responsible for managing emotions in the public spaces of the clinics and moved between emotional distance and awareness according to the needs of the clinic. In this article, it is argued that non-caring was a defence against anxiety about coping with painful feelings and that the nursing role was to 'nurse the clinic and the doctor' rather than the patient.