Nurses Role In Healthcare

Introduction

Nurses are an important part of the healthcare system and have significant roles that will help patients have the best care and recovery while they are in the hospital or any health care setting because of the constant direct interactions with the patients. Therefore nurses need to have good characteristics to be able to give the best care and make a change in patients experience in the hospital.

Having an important role in the healthcare industry means you have to know your responsibilities and how to do them right and how to work with good characteristics to be able to make a difference In the industry and in patients lives.

Objectives 

• 5 major functions of nurses 
• Characteristics of a good nurse 
• What makes nurses have important roles?

What are the 5 Major functions of nurses?

Nurses frequently serve as the initial point of contact for patients therefore have significant key nursing responsibilities in healthcare, starting with patient evaluation which lies at the core of nursing duties, second is medication management which represents another pivotal nursing responsibility and have major impact on their treatment plan, the third major function is wound care and controlling infections and fourth one is keeping patients rights by effective communication with other healthcare members and aiding patient in making informed choices about their treatment and the last one is education and health promotion.

Main characteristics that makes a working nurse a “good nurse”

The most important one is compassion and empathy then comes the ability to handle pressure along with communications skills, ability to work solo and as a part of a team, nurses needs to have problem solving skills and clinical acumen which help patients trust their nurse in charge.

And the most quality of nurses that makes them linked with better patient outcomes and higher patient satisfaction is leadership.

What makes nurses have an important role in the healthcare industry?

Nurses act as the backbone of healthcare care and considered the largest single profession of the field and that is related to the increased population of patients in need of care more than ever before as they also play an increasing significant role in providing care to patients and in administrative side of healthcare. They spend even more greater time with patients (especially in the intensive care unit) compared to physicians making them important advocates in patients care by having more time to understand their patients needs, behaviours and concerns. Over the decades nurses have always delivered a high standard exceptional care and working their way through hard work and earning their respect among the healthcare industry

Summary

The nursing profession is art and science of caring, protecting, preventing injuries and optimization of health and human functioning which makes is the nurse have compassion, commitment and courage more than others.

Being a hard working nurse can make a lot of difference on patients hard experiences while being most vulnerable during their illness, and help them heal faster and implement the treatment plan in the best possible way. On the other hand if the nursing staff was not competent and does not have the good characteristics that make them good and efficient nursing staff, that can negatively affect the experiences that the patients are going to go through.

Due to the importance of this profession on the health of others, increasing the well qualified nursing working hands in the industry is important.

 Personal opinions

As a nursing student I choose this path knowing well what it means being a hard working nurse and what is the importance of this profession and I personally see nurses at the top level of the healthcare hierarchy although sometimes nurses go through rough times which affect their work and their image in patients eyes not knowing that it’s not intentional, even though it’s not an excuse but I hope in the future work loads will be less on nurses due to their significant role that needs to be free from errors and needs them to do and be at their best.

By

Fourth year nursing student, Abeer.