Nursing is the art of designing, testing and implementing therapeutic interventions aimed at improving well-being in individuals, groups, or communities (Bennett, 1994).
A Nurse is a person who provides medical treatment and help people of all ages to get well or a person who is concerned with physical and psychosocial aspect of illness and health.
Nurses must be able to take responsibility, supervise or direct others, follow orders accurately, and correctly decide when consultation is necessary. All nurses are supporters for patients, families and communities; they should be sympathetic and caring.
Nurses help people of all ages to get well when they are sick. Nurses also help people to stay healthy and well by teaching them about healthy behaviors and strategies. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics nursing will be one of the important and rapidly growing careers until the year 2006. There are over 2.5 million nurses in the United States alone today.
Nurses work to prevent disease, promote health and help patients overcome with illnesses. Nursing is a science and an art that requires thorough knowledge, understanding, strategies and skills. Nursing not only deals with a person's biological needs, but also their cultural and psychosocial and as well. Nursing care is mainly delivered through a four step method
Creating a care plan which addresses particular treatment goals.
Analyzing physical, psychological, and cultural information about a patient.
Identifying the patient’s potential actual or health conditions.
Supervising or carrying out the care plan
Nurses provide frontline care in homes, hospitals and the local community. Nurses are also consultants, researchers, managers, administrators and CEO’s in hospitals and health care organizations. Nurses are in key and very important positions making the better future of health care.
Nurses are mainly concerned with the physical aspect of illness and health. Nurses also deal with the social, psychological and the spiritual dimensions of health and wholeness for families, individuals and communities. Nurses use a friendly approach and behavior in working with clients to promote restore and maintain their wholeness and health.
A nurse diagnoses clients, provides treatments such as immunizations. Nurse refers to physicians and doctors when medical problems are identified. A nurse provides prenatal care and instructs for the care of children. A nurse may also teach diabetics how to manage their diets or administer insulin injections. In the community and society the nurse may be at the forefront, working for community assistance and seeking legislation to offer needed services. Nursing is more than just a job; it is a professional and very difficult career.
Nursing is a complete profession, art and science with the main purpose of assisting individuals, clients, families and communities to attain, retain and maintain the best level of wellness and health through purposeful interventions. Registered nurses work to prevent disease, promote health, and help patients cope with illness or disease. Nurses are advocates and health educators and instructors for families, patients, and communities. Nurses work independently without any fear and in association with other health professionals and doctors. When providing direct patient care, they assess, observe, and record reactions, progress and symptoms; assist doctors during examinations and treatments; handle medications; and assist in rehabilitation and restoration of health. Registered nurses also manage and develop new and effective nursing care plans, instruct individuals and their families in proper care. Nurses are providers of indirect and direct care to patients, families, communities and groups. They are manager, designer and coordinator of health care.
The nurse works and functions as a caring professional in both collaborative, self-directed and autonomous roles, using critical thinking, effective communication, ethical principles, and deliberative action to help patients with health related self care issues, facilitate access to health care and help in decisions about health.
Nursing is one of the largest and important health care professions. Nursing is also a high-tech profession because nurses use a lot of advanced equipment in doing their job effectively, and high-touch because nurses work very closely with patients and their families.
Bennett, M. (1994), www.indstate.edu/nurs/mary/N621/theory.doc
(November 2, 2002)