Nursing
Introduction
Nursing
is a profession within the health care sector focused on care of individuals,
families and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal
health and quality of life .Nurses may be differentiated from other health care
providers by their approach to patient care, training and scope of practise.
There are many definition of nursing and one of them is as below;
"Nursing
is protection ,promotion, and
optimization of health and abilities; prevention of illness and injury ;alleviation
of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response ;and
advocacy in health care for individuals, families, communities and
population."
-American Nurses Association
As
a profession
The
authority for practice of nursing is based upon a social contract that
delineates professional rights and responsibilities as well as mechanism for
public accountability. In almost all countries, nursing practice is defined and
governed by law, and entrance to the profession is regulated at national or
state level. The aim of nursing community worldwide is for its professionals to
ensure quality care for all, while maintaining their credentials, code of
ethics, standards and competencies and continuing their education. Nursing
involves extensive study of nursing theory and practice as well as training in
clinical skills. Nurse must be licensed. To work as nursing profession, all
nurses hold one or more credentials depending on their scope of practice and
education.
Florence Nightingale was an influential
figure in development of modern nursing
as profession.
Scope
of Nursing
-Activities
of daily living assistance
Assisting in activities of daily living are
skills required in nursing as well as other professions such as nursing
assistants, this includes assisting in patient mobility and patient hygiene.
-Medication
Nurses do not have the authority to
prescribe medications, with few expectations. All medications administered by
nurses must be from medication order from a licensed practitioner. Nurses are
responsible for drugs they administer and there may be a legal implications
when there is an error in drug order and record, report should be kept. In
United States, nurses have right to refuse any medication administration that
they deem to be harmful to patient.
-Patient
education
Patient education is duty that is
not legally delegated to unlicensed assistive personnel. The patient's family
is often involved in education. Effective patient education leads to fewer
complications and hospital visits.
Pros
and Cons of becoming nurse
When you consider becoming a nurse, you may think about
the excitement and opportunities to make a difference in someone's life. Both
of those things can be true about working as a nurse.But nursing is not like
you see on television. Every moment is not exciting, and not every patient will
encounter will be rewarding. some of pros and cons of nursing are;
Pros
Nursing is
a great carrier choice if you want to be in helping profession. There may be
days when you literally save someone's life. Knowing what you did helped
someone can be a very gratifying aspect of the job. The work can be diverse and
interesting. Nurses work in various patient care areas including labour and
delivery, surgery and intensive care unit. Nursing job is exciting because not
all days of nurse are same. Nurses work in areas , such as discharge planning,
case management and education. Hospital are not only industry that employs
nurse. Insurance companies, law firm and schools also hire nurses. Flexibility
and travelling can also be build in nurses.
Cons
Nurses are
exposed to all types of germs and viruses. If u are squeamish, nursing is
probably not your best carrier choice. Nurses deal with blood and other bodily
fluids. They are also exposed to all types of viruses and other pathogens. Some
days maybe overwhelming and you may feel guilty for being a nurse because this
job is stressful for a variety of reasons. For example; there may be times you
are short staffed or get a sudden increase in new patients to treat. All
patient are not polite or appreciating type. You have to exposed to sad
situation in which you witness sad or tragic situations. You may have to work
even during holidays. Nurses should be flexible enough to adjust at any times
and work for patients which maybe tough enough.
Summary
Nursing
need to achieve autonomy in controlling and maintaining the integrity of its
professional education and united membership has to be recognized. The fact
that nursing is primarily composed of women, who have been and continue to be
dominated by physicians and hospitals administrators in many health care
institutes that shouldn't be overlooked. New nurses have to understand how
nursing trends and issues synthesize technical, ethical and organizational
issues in ever evolving health care area of nursing.
