Nursing as a Profession

Study Notes

Nursing as a Profession

Nursing is an art and science, requiring compassionate care and respect for client dignity.
Nursing knowledge constantly evolves with discoveries and innovations.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) defines nursing as the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering, diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.
Florence Nightingale is considered the founder of modern nursing, establishing a philosophy based on health maintenance and restoration.
She developed the Nightingale Training School for nurses at St. Thomas' Hospital in London in 1860, the first organized program for training nurses.
Rufaidah bint Sa'ad is recognized as the first Muslim nurse, born in Yathrib before the migration of the Prophet Muhammad.

Defining Nursing

Nursing addresses promotion of health, prevention of illness, curative measures for disease, restoration of health, and rehabilitation of disabling conditions.

Nursing Roles and Functions

A nurse's role has evolved to include health promotion and illness prevention, as well as holistic care.
Professional nurses act as caregivers, decision-makers, protectors, advocates, managers (case managers), rehabilitators, communicators, teachers/educators, counselors, researchers, and hold various career roles.
- The role of educator is substantial, with nurses both influencing and supporting health education.
- Teaching is crucial for care of both well and ill clients.
- Case management entails coordinating and facilitating timely and appropriate healthcare services for optimal patient recovery.
- Counseling entails assisting clients with identification and clarification of health problems, recommending courses of action, and offering objective, supportive, and caring guidance for self-directed decisions.
- Caregivers provide patient care, coordination of patient care, protecting patients, education of patients and family, and patient advocacy.
- Managers are leaders within teams, and require strong communication skills for effective collaboration with people of varied ages.. Nursing managers handle responsibilities encompassing the team's professional workload. The success of the nursing unit is dependent on effective team-building leadership within the unit.
- Researchers contribute to knowledge advancement in nursing by updating knowledge, applying evidence-based practice (EBP), and assessing agency needs to meet patient demands. Conducting relevant research, selecting relevant data procedures, evaluating and critiquing professional literature, and undertaking action research are significant components of research activities in nursing.

Nursing Ethics

Ethics deals with principles of right and wrong conduct, based on personal beliefs and values, and guides how individuals act in interpersonal relationships.
The nurse code of ethics provides guidelines for practice and behavior.
Nurses are fundamentally responsible for promoting health, preventing illness, restoring health, and alleviating suffering.
They provide health services to individuals, families, and communities, coordinating services for holistic care.
Their work is unrestricted by considerations of nationality, race, age, sex, politics, or social status; they carry personal responsibility for their practice and maintain competence through continuous learning.
Nurses uphold the highest possible standards of care within the specific situation.
Ethical principles include: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, confidentiality, fidelity, and veracity.