Nurses in Healthcare
Nurses attend to the health needs of the patients and their families, and are hence the face of health care systems. However, nurses continue to be understudied and unappreciated while they are the main actors who keep extending rendition of human services in clinics, hospitals, and other sectors.
The profession and functions of a Nurse
Nurses are occupation people filling many position that are not limited to such perceptions. Although their major role is the treatment of the patients, their tasks include: taking the patients’ temperatures, pulse, respiration, and administering injections and other prescriptions under the supervision of doctors, that are; making sure patients are comfortable at all times. Patient advocates are also nurses who interpret what the doctors are saying and explain to the patients or vice versa. These decisions are made after both the patient and the family are informed of diseases, treatment, and care plans. Instead, nurses can take their specialization areas and administrations even further in terms of duties. For example, the critical care nurses address operations that occur in emergency situations and are involved in the ICU, while pediatric nurses are concerned with children. Geriatric nurses take care of their elderly patients and psychiatric nurses work with mentally ill people. The availability of these specializations proves the great potential of nurses in different healthcare environments.
Education and Training
To become a nurse one has to train, study and undergo through a process of practical experience. Some of the nursing certifications are LPN, RN, and APRN among others.The nursing occupations have different degrees of specialty as will be discussed below. Nurses can be diploma holders, possess an associates degree, baccalaureate degree, or even post graduate level Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Clinical education is a vital component of student’s curriculum in nursing colleges. By the time the nurse goes through clinicals, the results are that he or she is able to conduct themselves professionally in different practices of medicine. In addition to medical understanding, the program fosters ‘soft skills’ that are as important in the emotional and psychological handling of patients as are technical competencies.
This paper aims at identifying some of the key challenges that affect the nursing profession all over the world.
Yet, the occupationally stable position of nurses is challenged by major adversities that question the extremes of nurses’ physical, mental, and emotional endurance. Nurses are forced to work long hours, many are understud, and are always exposed to infectious disease. These challenges were however realised mainly in the early 2020, when the COVID 19 pandemic struck the world, and nurses across the globe provided care while putting their lives at risk. Essential stress and burnout are part of nurses’ working conditions since they work in several directions, including the provision of psychosocial support for patients with severe or fatal diseases. Also, they indicated that nurses often experience a problem when managers or colleagues do not adequately recognize and appreciate the actual job demands. These may be unrecognized while they are perhaps among the workforce that most directly affects the lives and health of others. These problems need to be solved so that nurses can be provided, valued for, and appreciated to the degree they should.
Human aspects in the treatment of the patient
Where I believe nurses triumph over a machine is in the provision of the patient touch. While doctors have the main responsibility for diagnosing and treating patients, they have diseases; nurses have people. They are there to be by someone’s side when he or she is crying in pain, to listen to complaints out of one’s mouth, and to reassure. Often this bond can greatly affect a patient’s healing process, because they begin to feel comfortable and trusting of their healthcare provider. Patients education is also another key role performed by nurses. That is why, by explaining to people about disease control and the use of medicines, as well as choice of a healthy way of life, they explain to patients how they could manage their own health. It is effective in terms of preventing readmission, but what is most important, it is beneficial for the patient’s quality of life.
Conclusion
Nurses are the backbone and body of the healthcare delivery services. As such, they are the silent performers and tireless caregivers so much needed in the healthcare sector. The main difficulties may be stated without exaggeration, but so can the benefits they bring to society. From this vantage, as we assess the future state, it is crucial that the significance of nurses as caregivers is beneath acknowledged and supported on our way to achieving improved populations’ overall health and better health care systems. Without nurses, the world cannot operate, for they offer the patients what they need, comfort, care, and hope in their hardest times.
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