Gently in the manner of a nurse (8)
I believe the answer is:
tenderly
'gently' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'manner of a nurse' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'nurse' could be 'tender' (a nurse tends to patients) and 'tender' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tenderly that I've seen before include "with compassion" , "in affectionate manner" , "Sensitively" , "In gentle and fond manner" , "in caring way" .)