How is "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" related to nursing?

This is a very interesting question! I have certainly never had a student ask to relate Robert Frost's iconic poem to the nursing profession.
Below, I included a very interesting article from the New York Times about the doctor-nurse relationship. In the article, the writer (who is a nurse) asks a very important question: when a nurse disagrees with a doctor, who prevails? The writer's thesis is thoughtful but rather controversial. She proposes that disagreements between a nurse and a doctor need not cause division. Instead, the conflict should inspire a conversation between the two concerned professionals, with the end purpose being to deliver optimal care to vulnerable patients.
The writer relates how she disagreed with a doctor about continuing a series of chemotherapy treatments for a leukemia patient. The patient confessed to the writer that the aftereffects of the treatment were unbearable. For his part, the doctor pressured the patient into continuing the treatment. As a result, the patient suffered uncontrollable and painful bleeding in his bladder. His death was anything but peaceful.
So, how does this relate to the poem? Let us take the first two stanzas:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

The traveler has momentarily halted his journey. He is in the middle of the woods on a snowy evening. It is the "darkest evening of the year." He fancies that his horse is wondering at his decision to stop "without a farmhouse near." The traveler's words indicate that he himself may be wondering why he has halted his journey. It is indeed a strange decision, certainly one that defies all reason. Meanwhile, his horse "gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake."

In the nursing profession, nurses often have to defer to the authority of the attending physician. Yet, nurses often wonder if the expectation to defer at all times is in the best interest of patients. In the poem, both traveler and horse are seen questioning the decision to stop in the middle of the woods. After all, it is cold, dark, and there is no shelter nearby.

Similarly, a nurse's instinctive inclination to question has its basis in visceral experience: she sees her patient on a daily basis and is privy to developmental changes in his physical condition. In the New York Times story, the leukemia patient admitted to the writer (his nurse) that the chemotherapy treatments caused him terrible pain.

Certainly, the poem (if we relate it to nursing) highlights the idea of questioning, especially if the situation is less than ideal. In the poem, questions are raised about stopping in the middle of the woods on a dark, snowy evening; in the nursing profession, questions are often raised about continuing a certain plan of treatment, especially when there is every indication that it is disadvantageous to do so.

The last stanza can also be related to nursing.


But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Nurses have to work long hours; many work twelve-hour shifts. It is certainly not a profession for the faint of heart. In the stanza above, the traveler has miles to go before he can rest. Today, hospitals are sometimes short-staffed, and this adds to a nurse's long hours. The repetition of the last two lines in the poem highlight a sense of dreariness and fatigue—emotions nurses are very familiar with.
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/how-far-should-a-nurse-go/

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/human-resources/5-of-the-biggest-issues-nurses-face-today.html

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/nurses-overworked-understaffed-070714