Qualified nurses have many duties that they are supposed to perform, including; ensuring efficient communication with the doctors, checking patients’ vitals, administering medicine to the sick, and caring for the sick. In most countries, nurses make up the largest medical care jobs as they play a critical role in medical facilities, increasing their job opportunities. Various medical schools offer different degrees, certificates, diplomas, doctorates, and professor levels to interested students like nursing schools in Kansas. The nursing career projections’ growth indicates an overall increase in the coming decade and the provision of professional and personally rewarding experiences.
The general meaning of nursing
In simple terms, a nurse is a lifesaver. There are a large number of registered nurses in the world, and they are more as compared to doctors. Doctors generally specialize in one area, but nurses can coordinate care to all patients regardless of their health. For example, when patients suffer from chest pains, they may diagnose a cardiologist, nephrologist, and internal medicine specialists. Every doctor examines the patient in their area of jurisdiction, treat and make prescriptions.
The nurse then has the mandate to take care of the patient until they fully recover by ensuring they take their prescriptions accordingly. The medicines do not interact negatively with each other. Also, the nurse ensures that the patient understands and is fully prepared for their treatment. When the diagnostic results are out, the nurses are the first to read through the results, and then immediately they notify the doctor in charge. Unlike in the old days, nurses have equal responsibilities in ensuring a patient receives overall care.
Who is a registered nurse?
A registered nurse has obtained the relevant study qualifications, including degrees, has passed the board exams, and has fully met all the licensing requirements by the state laws. An associate degree is usually the minimum education requirement to sit for the board exams, and attaining a bachelor’s degree or higher education levels increases a person’s preference by the employers.
Nurse duties
Are you aware of what nurses do? They continuously monitor and evaluate patients, and they need to be very smart and adapt, educated, highly skilled, and critical thinkers. Some of their responsibilities are: coordinating with several medical specialists to ensure that patients are efficiently placed on recovery. Because of the diverse care types given to patients, nurses have capabilities that surpass stereotyped personalities, and they come in different forms. Some of the jobs of a nurse in their daily jobs include:
- Conducting physical examinations
- Taking precise and detailed healthcare histories
- Carefully listening to patients and analyzing their emotional and physical needs.
- Providing counsel and healthcare teachings to their patients
- Coordinating care with the specialists and other healthcare providers
- Staying updated on the advancements in the medical sector options, treatment plans, and proper medications
- Performing health-related tests and drawing of blood
- Checking a sick person’s vital signs
Where nurses work
It is not all the registered nurses who work in designated hospitals. They can be found in various healthcare environments like doctors’ offices, schools, pharmacies, and urgent care centers, among other medical setup locations. Qualified nurses have all the needed abilities and skills to meet patients’ needs wherever they are as long as they are accessible. For example, some nurses help the elderly and the disabled in their respective homes. Here are some common places where you will probably find a nurse; in a hospital, clinic, office, schools, pharmacy, ambulances, a healthcare setting, and the senior living community.
Various types of nurses
When asked what nurses do is a difficult question since nurses are highly skilled in multiple fields and may decide to trade their specialties in a specific type of care. Some of the specified nurse fields are; pediatrics, treatment plans, management of cases, critical or intensive care, and geriatrics. Nurses work directly with the patients, and they manage the patients’ paperwork; hence, they play a mega role in people’s lives, and the career continues to grow because of their roles. There are various types of nursing fields, all dependent on the attained education levels.
- Nurse anesthetists: they help actively aid in medical procedures which deal specifically with the anesthetic. To hold this position, one must have a bachelor’s degree.
- Family nurse practitioners: they deliver family-based care as part of the medical care team. Also, this category requires a nurse practitioner to hold a master’s degree.
- The NICU nurses: work with sick newborns. In this category, the nurses hold a bachelor’s degree.
- Labor and delivery nurses: they help mothers deliver their newborns. They are supposed to hold an associate’s degree.
- Travel nurses work in short-term contacts in a different location with the need to explore the world as they work. For one to become a travel nurse, then they should have an associate’s degree.
- The neonatal nurses: actively take care of sick babies and have a bachelor’s degree.
- Pediatric nurses work with children by maintaining their routine care, and one must have an associate’s degree.
- Ambulatory nurses: they work in ambulances because of emergencies, and they hold an associate degree as the minimum education requirement
- Clinical nurse specialists: they work with patients in various specialties in a more advanced setting. All of the nurses in this category hold a master’s degree.
- School nurses: they provide medical assistance, education, and treatments within a school facility. They all hold a bachelor’s degree.
- Nurse educators instruct and teach aspiring nurses and health professionals in their journey towards attaining their careers. For one to become a nurse educator, one must hold a master’s degree.
In conclusion, nurses are essential in the medical world as their services are critical. Nurses’ salaries amounts depend on their education levels and where they are working. To become a nurse, one needs to choose a nursing program. Attain the degree and then get licensed by the administration board. Various schools offer nursing education programs like degrees and master’s programs.
