Nicely trim dressing nurse cut on new patient (10)

I believe the answer is:

persistent

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'patient' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'nicely trim dressing nurse cut on new' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'nurse' could be 'en' (abbreviation for enrolled nurse) and 'en' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for persistent that I've seen before include "Endless" , "fixed" , "Dogged" , "Resolute - interminable" , "Prolonged; nagging" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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