Being Below the Horizon: The Dwelling Place of the Nurse Aide

Abstract

Nurse aides are the unregulated caregivers who perform the bulk of the physical and emotional care-giving work for residents in long-term care facilities. Hierarchies of nursing work in some long-term care institutions and the marginalization of some nurse aides in these institutions are revealed through quotes retrieved from existing literature. These quotes illustrate the ways in which these nurse aides are on earth – their ways of “dwelling.” The author calls for support and empathy from registered nurses for struggling nurse aides by integrating Martin Heidegger’s philosophies of space and dwelling with the ways in which nurse aides “dwell” in their places of work.