Nursing is a profession focused on assisting individuals, families and
communities in attaining, re-attaining and maintaining optimal health
and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing define it as a science
and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by
persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to
care at the end of life.
In pre-modern times, nuns and the
military often provided nursing services. The religious and military
roots of modern nursing remain in evidence today. For example, in
Britain, senior female nurses are known as "Sisters". In recent times in
the US and Canada many nurses are flowing back into working in a
"religious" field through "Parish Nursing". These nurses work within a
church community to perform health education, counseling, provide
referrals to community support agencies, and connect volunteers from the
church community with those in need of assistance.
Nurses
acknowledge that the nursing profession is an essential part of the
society from which it has grown. The authority for the practice of
nursing is based upon a social contract that delineates professional
rights and responsibilities as well as mechanisms for public
accountability. The practice of nursing involves altruistic behavior, is
guided by nursing research and is governed by a code of ethics.
Nursing
continues to develop a wide body of knowledge and associated skills.
There are a number of educational paths to becoming a professional nurse
but all involve extensive study of nursing theory and practice and
training in clinical skills.
In almost all countries, nursing
practice is defined and governed by law and entrance to the profession
is regulated by national, state, or territorial boards of nursing.
The
American Nurses' Association (1980) has defined nursing as "the
diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health
problems." Just as medical diagnoses help in the planning,
implementing, and evaluation of medical care, Nursing diagnoses help in
the planning, implementing, and evaluation of nursing care.
Like
other maturing disciplines, nursing has developed different theories
that are aligned with diverging philosophical beliefs and paradigms or
worldviews. Nursing theories help nurses to direct their activities in
order to accomplish specific goals with people. Nursing is a knowledge
based discipline committed to the betterment of humankind. Nursing has
not only developed into a profession, but an art as well.
Nursing is the most diverse of all healthcare professions. It is a universal role appearing in some form in every culture.
Nursing
may be divided into different specialties or classifications. In the
U.S., there are a large number of specialties within nursing.
Professional organizations or certifying boards issue voluntary
certification in many of these areas.
These specialties encompass
care throughout the human lifespan based upon patient needs. Many
nurses who choose a specialty become certified in that area, signifying
that they possess expert knowledge of the specialty. There are over 200
nursing specialties and sub-specialties. Certified nurses often earn a
salary differential over their non-certified colleagues, and studies
from the Institute of Medicine have demonstrated that specialty
certified nurses have higher rates of patient satisfaction, as well as
lower rates of work-related errors in patient care.
Nurses
practice in a wide range of settings from hospitals to visiting people
in their homes and caring for them in schools to research in
pharmaceutical companies. Nurses work in occupational health settings
(also called industrial health settings), free-standing clinics and
physician offices, nurse-run clinics, long-term care facilities, and
camps. Nurses work on cruise ships and in military service. They act as
advisors and consultants to the healthcare and insurance industries.
Some nurses are attorneys and others work with attorneys as legal nurse
consultants, reviewing patient records to assure that adequate care was
provided and testifying in court. In many cities, nurses can even enter
their names in a "registry" and work a wide variety of temporary jobs.
In the modern world, there are a large number of specialities within nursing:
- Ambulatory care nursing
- Advanced practice nursing
- Behavioral health nursing
- Camp nursing
- Cardiac nursing
- Cardiac catheter laboratory nursing
- Case management
- Clinical nurse specialist
- Clinical research nurse
- Community health nursing
- Correctional nursing
- Critical care nursing
- Developmental disabilities nursing
- District nursing
- Emergency nursing
- Environmental Health nursing
- Flight nursing
- Forensic nursing
- Gastroenterology nursing
- Genetics nursing
- Geriatric nursing
- Health visiting
- Hematology oncology nursing
- HIV/AIDS nursing
- Home health nursing
- Hospice nursing
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Nursing
- Intavenous therapy nursing
- Infectious disease nursing
- Legal nursing
- Legal Nurse Investigator
- Maternal-child nursing
- Medical-surgical nursing
- Military and uniformed services nursing, including Public Health Service
- Neonatal nursing
- Neuro-surgical nursing
- Nurse anesthetist
- Nurse-midwife
- Nurse practitioner
- Nursing educator
- Nursing informatics
- Nursing management
- Obstetrics gynecology nursing
- Occupational health nursing
- Oncology nursing
- Operating room nursing
- Orthopaedic nursing
- Ostomy nursing
- Pain management and palliative care nursing
- Pediatric nursing
- Perianesthesia nursing
- Perioperative nursing
- Plastic and reconstructive surgical nursing
- Private duty nursing
- Psychiatric or mental health nursing
- Public health
- Pulmonary nursing
- Quality improvement
- Radiology nursing
- Rehabilitation nursing
- Renal dialysis nursing
- Renal nursing
- Research
- School nursing
- Sub-acute nursing
- Substance abuse nursing
- Tele-medicine nursing
- Telemetry nursing
- Telephone triage nursing
- Transplantation nursing
- Travel nursing
- Urology nursing
- Utilization management
- Wound care
Professional organizations or certifying boards issue voluntary certification in many of these specialties.
Nursing
assistant skills are the set of learned tasks used in helping residents
or patients with activities of daily living (ADLs) and providing
bedside care--including basic nursing procedures--under the supervision
of a Registered Nurse (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).
In
today's hospitals and extended care facillities a nurse assistant is an
important part of a healthcare team that includes many personnel outside
of nurses. In the quest to make a profit from providing care many
hospitals in the United States have reduced their nurse to patient
ratios, requiring one nurse to take care of as many as twelve or
fourteen patients at a time. In order for good care to be provided to
those patients a nurse assistant is needed to provide the routine care
so that the nurse can focus on tasks only he/she can do, such as care
plans, nursing assessments, administering medication, and assist in
surgery room preparation. The nurse assistant must not only be very
skilled in the actual procedures being performed but must also be able
to make quick observations of a patient's condition and report that
information back to the nurse. Since the nurse cannot spend large
amounts of time in the room with the patient, the nurse assistant is
known as the nurse's "eyes and ears".
A nurse assistant must also
have a strong grasp of emergency procedures and be able to stay calm in
stressful situations. They must be able to initiate a Code Blue and be
well-drilled in CPR
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