The Editor’s Message

A Reflection on Nursing in Neurosurgery

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round the world in many countries, May is “Nurses Month” and May 12, International Nurses Day (Florence Nightingale’s

A birthday). Thinking about this a few months ago led me to think how little we spend in the pages of this journal and others, on
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the value of nursing in neurosurgery. The cover this month highlights the partnership of nurses and neurosurgeons from years
past and the present. My dear friend Dan Leksell shared this image of his father Lars Leksell performing air ventriculography, while his
nurse assists with the imaging.

Can we even think about the performance of neurosurgery without nursing support, whether in the office, the research environment,
the operating room, the hospital wards, or the rehabilitation centers that often help our patients in their recoveries? Do we just take for
granted that complex and challenging surgeries will be followed by excellent nursing care that lasts all night, the next day, and the day after
that? Nurses talk to our patients when we are not there, reiterate our messages, and clarify and answer patient’s questions. They become as
familiar with new surgical techniques as we do, to understand their indications and potential outcomes. Then they work to make those
outcomes possible. In the surgical suite, they must become familiar with new devices and do so expeditiously to meet our high standards.
It is truly a wonder how over the course of their own career they evolve as we evolve, as our field evolves.

Neurosurgical nursing is its own calling. As for any of us, the path is different from person to person. To become involved in the care of
patients with challenging and debilitating neurological disorders, in one or more different clinical settings, is a commitment toward
excellence. I personally think of our work as more a vocation than a career. We are so fortunate to have nurses in the practice setting who
help us bring patients and families to an understanding of their own medical challenges and to help them navigate what is assuredly an
anxious time. Their calm, unhurried demeanor can help them through a potentially frustrating interaction with the health care system,
lessening worry and sleepless nights, at least to some degree. Nurses on the hospital wards provide the surgical aftercare of recovery,
hopefully to a prompt return home, but sometimes toward an extended care stay that may develop into more personal contacts with
patients, friends, and family. The hands-on, personal interactions involved are truly special and go far beyond the expectations of a “job.”
In the surgical suite, our nurses have the same commitment to professionalism, communication, care, and error reduction as we do. This
is displayed time and again, each time a new patient enters the room.

And last, a personal note. Many years ago now, I married a neurosurgical nurse who had worked on the neurosurgery floor at the
Toronto General Hospital and then in the operating room there. She later worked in the OR at the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center. She understood the field, the disorders we treat, and the personalities involved. Her nursing skills were also crucial to our family,
including structure, planning, fearlessness, and tenderness. As my dear friend John Golfinos would say, “you can’t spell neurosurgery
without n-u-r-s-e.”

I encourage you to think about the nurses you work with, in any of the different settings, and know that the wonderful science in these
journal pages could not have happened without them.

Douglas Kondziolka, MD, MSc

Editor-in-Chief, Neurosurgery Publications
New York, New York, USA

Disclosures
Dr Kondziolka receives research support from Brainlab and purchased direct stock in Chiefy.

© Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2023. All rights reserved.

NEUROSURGERY VOLUME 92 | NUMBER 5 | MAY 2023 | 893

© Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2023. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.