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Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Role of a Nurse

Background

The main responsibility or role of the nurse as one of the health care provider revolves in care for the patient. The heart of nursing is to provide care which is essential for their patients and help them achieve the quality of health. Most of the time, the nurses are the people that accompanies the patients during their medication and even in hardship. Caring for the patient should be natural and usually they assist the doctor in curing the patients. They are also the coordinators for the wellness of the patient and protect them in any possible injury that might cause for the delay for the health improvement of the patients. Aside from that, they also teach the patient and his or her family on the issues about the patient’s health. This role of interaction with the patients, the nurses became the advocate for the patient and support them starting in the process of admission although the dismissal of the patient. Nurses are the witness of the hardship of their patients but still doing their best to explain to them the importance of the process.

Nurses in the Health Care Team

In heath care settings, the health care providers and health care professionals are working together to provide the right service for the patients. The health care providers place the patients in the center of their concern. Most of the time, the care given by the nurses are sought by the patients because they already captured the heart of their charge. Nurses can provide the care at home of their patients but they are commonly found in the hospitals, clinics, and medical missions (Garcia, 2005). The view of the patient in the role of the nurses is to assists the doctors and sometimes, accommodating the surgeon inside the operating room. Nurses actually plays many role inside the health care setting but no matter what happen, there is no competition inside the health care setting because al of them are working together to help the patient and improve his or her health condition.

Nurses Facing the Moral and Ethical Dilemmas

Technically, there are many standard procedures being implemented in the health care setting that can cause conflict to the patients and start the dilemma of the nurses in their nature of work. An example of moral dilemma is the situation where there is a pregnant woman who is in a minute to deliver. The applied procedure of the nurses is to take the blood pressures and assess the woman (Pecorino, 1980). Even if the woman expects to deliver in that day because of the pain they feel, still the nurses will assess them first. The conflict arises because of the chaos of their reasons. The woman based her assumption on her feelings while, the nurse is through her medical expertise.

Meanwhile, the ethical dilemma is about the practices not only by the nurse but by the other medical practitioners in taking care of the patients. In an in-depth example, there is still a debate regarding the euthanasia or mercy killing among the patients. This issue encompasses both moral and ethical dilemmas. Based on the observation, most of the patients treat the nurses’ different from the medical professionals and in terms of the moral and ethical issues or conflict; the patients usually get angry on the nurses.

Skills and Attributes of a Nurse

In the area of health care, the nurses are expected to deliver the right treatment, respect, and love on their work. Without the three elements, the nurse may not meet the expectation of the patients. In the beginning of the nursing practice, the students are expected to show the ability to assess the patient through their observation, therefore, the nurses are capable of assisting the patients is nay given details. In addition, nurses have the kind of touch that makes the patients relief and ease their pain which is also similar to the mothers.

Role of Nurse and Other Health Care Professionals

Nurses are subject in changing role as well as the midwives. They are often considered as one because they practice the essence of care. Both nurses and midwives assist the doctors in taking care of the patients but obviously, midwives look after the pregnant woman and the nurses usually assist the patient in preparation for surgery and the process of healing. Nurses are considered as the assistant and the person who is trusted by the patients and the other medical professionals sought their help.

References:

Garcia, M., 2005. The Role of the Nurse on the Health Care Team, Nursing Care of the Sick [Online] Available at: http://www.wpro.who.int/internet/files/pub/85/1-6.pdf. [Accessed 20 Jan 2010].

Pecorino, P., 1980. Nursing Ethics, Technical Training and Values; Nursing and Ethics. Process, Vol. 6, No. 2. [Online] Available at: http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/pecorip/SCCCWEB/ETEXTS/MEDICAL_ETHICS_TEXT/Chapter_5_Nursing_Ethics/Nursing_Ethics_Values.htm. [Accessed 20 Jan 2010].

RWJF, 2007. Rewarding Quality Performance: The Role of Nursing. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. [Online] Available at: http://www.rwjf.org/files/publications/other/rewardingqualitynursing.pdf. [Accessed 20 Jan 2010].

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