Being a nurse is a unique vocation that seeks the most beautiful thing in a human being, and that is love, humanity, and devotion to vocation, and the role of a nurse is to help an individual, sick or healthy in performing those activities that contribute to health or recovery. To be a nurse you have to learn a lot, be willing to share, help people because it is first and foremost a humane job. You need to have feelings and talent for that job. There is a saying that describes them very well: If you save a life, then you are a hero. If you save a hundred lives, then you are a nurse.
Nurses work in the areas of health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. Their patients are children, adults, and the elderly. They work in very different jobs – from patronage to intensive care units – sometimes independently, sometimes in a team, and sometimes helping doctors. Some nurses deal mainly with the provision of nursing care and others with organization or teaching. Because of all this, there are big differences in the jobs of different sisters. But what all nurses have in common is a systematic approach to discovering and solving health problems within their remit. They observe and assess the physical and mental condition and behavior of their patients.
Most nurses work in hospitals. They help their patients alleviate, solve and cope with the problems they have due to illness, prescribed tests, treatment methods, hospital stays, and separation from family. For example, because of illness, people cannot take care of themselves, may get pressure ulcers, or complain of pain. They are often worried about searches and anxiously await the findings. Different treatments can cause difficulties such as hair loss or nausea. Many patients find it difficult to cope with a hospital stay – they do not get along in a new environment, they do not know which of the staff they can turn to, and there are other patients who can be seriously ill, nervous, or dying. So, this job can only be done by a mentally strong person, because nurses are often in situations to look at cases which, despite all the expertise, they cannot help.
This is a job that carries with it a very large dose of responsibility, and therefore it is not for everyone. If you think you are really ready to handle this job, Lecturio RN will help you succeed.
We can freely say that the job of a nurse is one of the most humane vocations and that today this profession is in deficit in many countries, especially in Western Europe, which is another reason why young people choose this vocation, and even retraining.
Working conditions depend on the type of work, place of employment, and the situation in the institutions themselves. The nurses work day and night shifts and on weekends and holidays. Community nurses and nurses in-home care and rehabilitation facilities go to their patients ’homes at all times. In the patient’s home, they must adapt to the conditions they encounter. The number of nurses is usually less than the need for nursing care, which means working in a time crunch.
In some workplaces, nurses may be exposed to infection, radiation, poisoning, and injury. Therefore, they must apply various safety measures at work.
We have already mentioned that the job of a nurse carries with it a great deal of moral and ethical responsibility in the treatment of the patient, but it is important to emphasize that nursing documentation is equally important. Nursing documentation encourages professional responsibility, provides legal protection, allows cost monitoring in relation to efficiency, sets nursing standards practice, is used for research papers, serves as educational material.
The obligatory part of the nursing documentation is the nursing anamnesis, nursing diagnoses, and patient characteristics, monitoring the patient’s condition during hospitalizations and permanent monitoring of procedures, medical-technical and diagnostic procedures, continuous monitoring of the patient’s condition, health care plan, list of conducted nursing procedures and a discharge letter of health care.
The nursing documentation covers the basic needs, which are the scope of work of nurses. It is composed in a way that nurses can assess the patient’s condition and on that basis draw conclusions, diagnose the problem and determine the amount of nursing care for the patient, and thus improve the quality of health care. Quality selection, storage, and retrieval allow for a wealth of data they become important information relevant to health care planning and the organization itself nursing practices.
Physicians are the bearers of the health care system and their role in caring for patients is invaluable. However, the supporting pillar that guards this system is precisely nurses and technicians. From emergency admission, triage, to caring for an intensive care patient, taking care of every detail of their current health condition, all under full protective equipment – it requires expertise, organization, empathy, compassion, calmness, self-confidence.
Like any other job, the job of a nurse is a medal on two sides. What does this mean? In a word – readiness. Willingness to suffer foot pain, lack of sleep, coping with stress. When your nurse leaves your medication next to your bed in the morning, you may think it’s easy to put the pills in small plastic cups. But the nurse who prepared them, also prepared medications for dozens of other patients. For each of them she had to double check the name and purpose, the time when she was allowed to give them, all the contraindications, and special doses.
A nurse must be emotionally mature and stable to be able to understand and deal with human suffering, emergencies, health problems, and ethical dilemmas. Good communication skills, patience, and sensitivity to human problems that are an integral part of any nursing process are necessary to build a relationship of trust. The nurse must be able to understand the patient’s feelings and behavior in a particular situation, not think about how she would feel and behave in such a situation. She must be caring, ready to accept responsibility, work independently and in a team, conscientiously and critically implement what is prescribed, and recognize when she must consult with others.
Nicola Holder