Nurse practitioners are the unsung superheroes of today’s healthcare who wear uniforms instead of a cape. From working long hours for days in a row to risking their lives by putting themselves on the frontline, nurse practitioners do everything to serve. An endless queue of patients in a hospital demands nurses to be alert, hardworking, and agile every second of their working day. These healthcare professionals probably have one of the most critical roles in any society. From stethoscopes to tears, here’s what a nurse practitioner’s role is all about in a healthcare setting.
DEFINITION OF A NURSE
WHO defines the role of the nurse as follows: “Nurses help individuals, families, and groups to determine and achieve their full physical, mental and social potential. It also encompasses the planning and implementation of curative care and rehabilitation. It addresses the physical, mental, and social aspects of life as they affect health and cause illness, disability, and death. They also work as partners with members of other professions for the delivery of health services”.
The Public Health Code specifies that “the nurse’s proper role is to provide care related to the functions of maintenance and continuity of life. In this context, the nurse has the competence to take the initiatives and perform the care that she deems necessary”.
Finally, the director of health and autonomy professions specifies that the nurse:
I. Evaluates a person’s state of health and analyzes care situations.
II. Designs, defines and plans personalized care projects.
III. Provides preventive, curative, or palliative care aimed at promoting, maintaining, and restoring health.
IV. Carries out therapeutic education and support for patients.
ROLES OF NURSE PRACTITIONERS AND NURSING CAREER
Nurses give support to physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. They conduct examinations, administer medications, and monitor their physical and mental condition. Those who work in the occupational health sectors or health centers may also participate in educational programs. In such roles, nurses provide counseling services, screen for diseases, and be part of immunization programs. These professionals may work in care establishments, private practice, occupational medicine services, communities, schools, and even prisons.
Because of the increasing demand and a promising career, many newbies want to join the healthcare system, and many need to upgrade their careers. If you want to know more about a nursing career, explore this nurse practitioner career guide to learn more about how you flourish your nursing career.
DOCTORS OPERATE, NURSES CURE
All nurses are professionals who spend time with patients every day and help them recover. Nurses take the measures for good patient care and contribute as much as possible to help doctors. They cooperate with other health personnel to ensure the benefit of the best care of the patient. Nurses attend and monitor seriously ill patients. Nurses are essential, and they care for so many patients and help them cure disease.
Nurse practitioners assist medical personnel in surgical interventions and operations. They provide immediate assistance services in emergency cases until the arrival of the doctor. They know how to observe and collect the clinical data necessary for the proper monitoring of patients. It’s a part of their role to ensure that patients receive a comfortable, orderly, clean, and safe environment.
MONITORING AND RECORDING
Nurses adequately prepare the patient for interventions or explorations, scrupulously attending to the prescribed care. They do all this while following the corresponding rules in postoperative care. With careful observation of each patient, nurses collect in writing all those alterations that the doctor must know for the best care of the patient. They make a careful note of everything related to the diet and feeding of the sick. Nurses secure the medical records and other necessary information for correct assistance, taking care of the data’s updating and accuracy. As a nurse, it’s also important to report any anomaly they observe in the patients.
TRAINING OF STAFF
Nurses also promote and participate in specific training programs as a staff-development nurse. You will find them instructing new staff in the Nursing Unit and issuing the administrative reports related to their function. It’s up to the nurses to ensure the maintenance of discipline, observe professional conduct, and distribute the work of all Nursing staff, ensuring that they meet their work schedules. The training depends on their area of performance. It may be surgery, pediatric care, intensive therapy, emergencies, obstetrics, geriatrics, occupational health, rehabilitation, or oncology. These professionals usually work for hospitals, clinics, medical offices, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, community entities, or private companies.
CONCLUSION
Today, healthcare leadership is one of the most important roles that nurses undertake. Professionals working in these health areas are aware of the need to develop good leadership. This workforce ensures the most useful contribution of nursing to health care. We expect that the system appreciates the value of the work that nurses do in any healthcare system. A nurse solves countless medical issues, focuses on real-time problems, ensures effective work performance, and uses the staff’s existing potential. The quality and level of medical care to patients largely depend on the work of nursing practitioners.
