Working in the ICU, in-patient, out-patient, schools, prisons, insurance companies, private homes, among many other settings nurses learn to balance a long list of tasks. In addition to taking care of patients, nurses have an innate ability to be kind, compassionate, work independently, and are customer service pros. Nurses are mediators, hand holders, communicators, weight lifters and order decoders. Juggling patient loads, demands of patient families, corporate bureaucracy and personal life. In other words, nurses are the rock-stars of healthcare.
I like the picture of the ICU nurse, except in nursing we are expected to balance all the tasks and remain calm. The nurse depicted in the pictures looks frazzled. Nurses remain kind and compassionate
Nursing is constantly evolving and changing, in order to be more efficient in providing care than in the past. The nursing profession includes professionals who are not only caregivers but support systems as well as educators. All these factors help to provide optimal care for patients and to also better serve their families and the community. All nurses are encouraged to break down the simplistic notion society has about the nursing profession because nursing is a multi-faceted profession encompassing many different factors that are beneficial to overall human development and health.
Often time, nurses has been viewed by patients, their family members and the medical team as basic emotional care givers, pill crushers or cart pullers and not as healthcare professionals who are more interesting in health promotion, disease prevention and better patient outcomes. They also often forget the emotional, physical, mental, and caring part that is involved with the profession. And to make matters worse, nurses are continued to be viewed as a threat by doctors more than ever before especially with the opening of Nurse Practitioners programs.
Although nurses do not wield the power of doctors in hospital settings, they are still able to effectively compensate for a doctor’s deficits in a variety of ways to assure patient recovery. Nurses meet a patient’s physical needs, which assures comfort and dignity Nurses explain and translate unfamiliar procedures and treatments to patients which makes the patient a partner in his own care and aids in patient compliance. Nurses communicate patient symptoms and concerns to physicians so treatment can be altered if necessary and most importantly, nurses provide emotional support to patients in distress.
...rking in the hospitals all across the nation, and employing confident employees to those positions will make a large impact on how well people are treated in medical facilities. Every nurse should follow procedure and focus on the job at hand—healing people.
This allows for nurses to take on roles that do not necessarily involve direct patient care due to the vast array of job opportunities within an ever expanding health care system. Jobs that were once created for and filled by other fields of study such as business and law are now being tailored to the nursing profession. One such role that was previously dominated by human resource professionals, health
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) are high trained nurses who use their developed training in the use of anesthesia to alleviate patient pain and discomfort due to medical procedures. Nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia for more than 125 years, dating back to the early Civil War. ("Nurse anesthetist," 2014). They undergo rigorous training post nursing licensure that allows them to hold a high position in the nursing field working beside surgeons, anesthesiologist, dentists, podiatrist, and many other skilled healthcare professionals ("Nurse anesthetist," 2014). Pain management is one of the main aspects in any procedure, if not the most important to the patient, therefore giving nurse anesthetists a wide spectrum of work settings in the medical field that they can practice in.
During many years the role of school nurse was traditionally viewed as one where the nurse cared for students that were injured, applied bandages and gave out ice bags. Throughout the years the role of the school nurse has evolved into one of leadership and management along with many other duties including traditional roles as mentioned above. The services provided by a school nurse range from assessment and screening to coordinating care for regular students as well as students with special needs. School nursing requires experience and knowledge in school, public, community and emergency health to meet the many needs of school aged children and youth. The school nurse provides many services but the basic services provided include illness and injury assessment and interventions, medication administration, screenings for health factors, disease management, health education, and preparing individual education plans for students.
Nursing-sensitive indicators are standards and practices used to increase the safety, quality of care, and thus satisfaction of patients. More specifically, these indicators provide nursing staff with the knowledge to identify potential issues and the tools to prevent or reduce the likelihood of negative patient outcomes encountered in the healthcare profession. While these standards of care have been expanded and refined to encompass numerous aspects of nursing, the parallel between nursing quality and positive patient outcomes fuels the continuation of analysis and evaluation of evidence-based intervention and prevention practices. The importance of understanding and evaluating nursing standards, quality of care, safety, and even ethics is
Nursing is a crucial job in the healthcare industry. Many people underestimate the need for nurses and do not think they are as important as doctors. However, this is completely untrue. Nurses are the ones who communicate with the patients and are on the frontlines of evaluating and administering treatment to patients. It can be a rewarding career, but like anything it also has drawbacks.
The understanding of Nursing Sensitive Indicators (NSI) can assist nurses in identifying care concerns that could potentially interfere with quality patient care. NSI reflect the structure, process and outcomes of nursing care. The structure of nursing care is indicated by nursing staff levels, staffing mix, educational levels and experience levels of those providing care. Process indicators measure methods of nursing assessment, methods of care, and types of interventions as well as staff satisfaction. Outcomes are directly relatable to quantity and quality of nursing care (American Nurses Association, 2017).
Hospital data on specific nursing-sensitive indicators could advance quality patient care throughout the hospital because staff would be able to see the prevalence of outcomes and work to prevent negative ones as well as working to set policies in place regarding care of patients related to their diagnosis. For pressure ulcers for instance, if there was hospital data related to which patients are most likely to develop pressure sores/ulcers (like those who are unable to ambulate on their own), care plans could be put in place for interventions such as reposition every 2 hours and as needed, up to chair from bed at least once a day, ambulate as tolerated assisted by staff, etc. Any nurse can delegate these tasks to a CNA or carry them out themselves. For restraint use every hospital has guidelines regarding when it is necessary and how to keep it safe.
Every nurse applies management to his or her everyday roles to some degree. To be a nurse one has to manage a numerous amount of techniques and skills in order to accomplish specific tasks. These tasks frequently require nurses to work with others in, as well as out of their profession. The Image of a Nurse is depicted from several key factors. One of the most important being the way they manage themselves as well as their patients and co-workers. Nursing is seen as a promising profession, however many do not know of the intense education a nurse undergoes. Th...
Nursing is a career that requires a lot but is also extremely rewarding. Not only do you nurse patients back to health, but also you also form bonds with these patients and maybe even their families. You are there for them physically, mentally and emotionally throughout their journey of recovery. In the video, A Nurse I Am, it follows the lives of three compassionate nurses: Mona Counts, Bob Wilkinson, and Ardis Bush. These nurses were chosen by their peers to receive the 2005 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award due to their phenomenal work as nurses.
Nurses are not just nurses, they are the care takers and life savers. A patient is not just a room number or a diagnosis they are a person. A nurse will do anything and everything possible to help that patient because they are a person with friends and family. A common goal most nurses have is to make an impact and help the patients in any way they can. This impact can really change a patient’s life. Although, doctors are known as the heroes, the nurses are the life savers behind the scenes and don’t always get the credit they deserve.
So many responsibilities are associated with that single creature running around the ward and, she is a nurse. A nurse who was previously supposed to do bed side nursing has now walked in the controlling her nearly exploding bladder. She is an advocator, a counselor, an educator and a lot more. Yes rich arena of educating patients and guiding them to the best of their knowledge to make informed decisions.