What is Nursing?

Nursing can be described both as an art and a science, a heart and a mind. According to medical dictionary for health professions and nursing, nursing is defined as a discipline, profession or an area of practice. As a discipline, nursing is centered on knowledge development with emphasis on discovering, describing, extending and modifying knowledge for professional nursing practice. Nursing is an integral part of the health care system and as such encompasses the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and care of physically ill, mentally ill, and disabled people of all ages, in all health care settings and other community contexts.

What do nurses do?

In the field of nursing, you can work in many environments. You can choose to work in schools, hospitals, medical offices, camps, clinics, labor and delivery, medical surgical care, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or shelters.

Nurses perform many professional tasks according to the area they specialize in. Some of nursing responsibilities include jobs like researching, supervising staff such as LPN’s and Nursing Assignment Help, coordinating patient care with other members of the healthcare team, administering medications, wound care and other health interventions.

The nursing process.

Irrespective of the specialty, all nurses use the same nursing process. A scientific method which is designed to deliver efficient patient care through five simple steps:

• Assessment – Nurses assess patients on physiological, economic, social and lifestyle basis.
• Diagnosis – Nurses form diagnosis of patients through careful consideration of both physical symptoms and patient behavior.
• Planning – Nurses use their knowledge to set realistic goals for the patient’s recovery and monitor closely the objectives.
• Implementation – By accurately implementing the care plan, nurses guarantee consistency of care to the patient whilst documenting the progress.
• Evaluation – Nurses hone the plans to achieve the best patient outcomes by closely analyzing the effectiveness of the care plan and studying the patient response.

Requirements to work as a nurse.

To work as a nurse, you are required to have certain educational criterias such as associate’s degree in nursing (ADN), bachelors of science in nursing (BSN), Masters of science in Nursing (MSN) or doctorate of nursing practice (DNP). A registered nurse can also earn a specialty certification.

A registered nurse can administer medications, coordinate care, perform physical examination and providing health promotion.

Advanced practice nurse.

Nurses who wish to extend their careers should pursue a graduate degree going on to master’s and doctorate. These nurses are called advanced practice registered nurses (APRN’s). Some of specialties of APRN’s are:

• Nurse practitioner (NP) – They are able to provide primary and preventive care, diagnose and treat certain conditions, and prescribe certain medications.
• Certified nurse-midwife (CNM) – CNM’s are able to provide healthy and non-high risk women with obstetric and gynecologic care.
• Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA) – They provide anesthesia to patients for surgery and other medical procedures.
• Clinical nurse specialists (CNS) – they can work in different settings like hospitals, clinics offices or in a nursing home.

Advantages of a nursing career.

Shortage of nurses across the globe has made nursing jobs available and has offered potential job security to the nurses. Nursing offers a chance to work in non-traditional work environments like schools and government agencies. With the vast specialties in a nursing career, nursing provides the opportunity to apply your skills in a multitude of areas.

The effect of nurses on global health.

The Red Cross (an international humanitarian network founded in 1863 in Switzerland) has been empowering nurses to help communities across the globe. Nurses are in every community providing expert care from birth to the end of life. Nurses also have contributed much effort and expertise to help control the worldwide corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic.