Nursing As A Profession

“Nursing is an art and science, a unique type of knowledge which consists of Social, behavioural and physical sciences” (Crisp, & Taylor, 2009, p376). Nursing profession deals with individuals and families to promote their health needs and problems. “Nursing is not simply a collection of specific skills, and the nurse is not simply a person trained to perform specific tasks. Nursing is a profession”. (Crisp, Taylor, Douglas & Reberio, 2013, p. 10). In addition to this, nursing is commonly mistaken as a collection of specific skills only practiced by the nurse; a person who’s trained to carry out these specific tasks as opposed to a profession. There is no factor which differentiates a job from a profession, the only difference is found in the nurse’s way of practice. For example, when a person acts ‘professionally’, it means that they are dedicated and are knowledgeable in their field of work (Crisp & Taylor, 2009).

Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to highlight the Nursing profession as a professional role. This will be done in two parts; where the first part will define three different terms on their relevance to the Registered Nurse’s (RN) role such as “Professionalism”, “Scope of Practice” and “Competence”. The second and last part will discuss how a RN demonstrates profession practice in relation to different Acts such as the following; The Health Practitioners Competency Assurance Act (2003), the Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ) ‘Registered Nurse Competencies’ (2003), the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) ‘Code of Ethics ’ (2010), the NCNZ ‘Code of Conduct’ (2012) and lastly; the NCNZ ‘Guidelines: Social Media and Electronic Communication’ (2012).

A profession is a form of employment that supplies needed se...

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..., as this will help the nurse provide the care in accordance to the needs of the patient and for patients to receive cares to meet their needs. As a consequence, this may promote the health benefits of the patient as well for the nurse to achieve safety practice.

To conclude, a competent RN is to maintain professionalism by practice in a professional manner while adherence to rules and regulations as reflected in the scope of practice indicated in the NCNZ. Nurses should be confident while practicing which creates a safe environment for the patient and the community. Nurses should be trustworthy and approachable and also maintain the client’s privacy, confidentiality all the time. Continuity of education and a current practicing certificate is necessary while practicing as a registered nurse.