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Posts Tagged ‘Vital Signs’

Nurses are a vital part of the medical community. There are over 2.5 million nurses in the United States, and nursing is the largest employer in the healthcare field. As the population ages, it is expected that we will need more nurses than ever to fill these available positions. There are two reasons for the increased demand for nurses. An aging population is one that will have a greater need for medical care, and many nurses are reaching retirement age. At a time when teacher and nurse where the two traditional career paths for women, many of the nurses that are reaching retirement age now chose nursing as a career. As other fields of study opened up, fewer women chose to enter the nursing field. That is offset slightly by the fact that many men are entering the field once dominated by women. Men, lured by the promise of flexible schedules and high demand, are a growing segment of the nursing community.

The nursing community is vital to the structure of the entire medical community. Nurses are responsible for their patient’s well being, and must not only dispense medicine, but recognize early signs of complications, monitor the patient’s emotional condition, and help the patient’s family understand the diagnosis and treatment of a disease.

The Importance of Nurses in the Hospital Setting

Nurses receive specialized training in monitoring and assessing medical conditions. While a physician diagnoses a disease or ailment and prescribes a course of treatment, it is the nurse who is involved in the implementation of that therapy. Nurses work one on one with patients, monitoring their vital signs and observing any changes to their condition. Often a nurse’s instinct, honed by hours on the job, is the first clue that a patient may not be responding well to treatment or that there may be another problem.

A nurse will typically be responsible for many patients on each shift. She is responsible for making sure they receive their medications and any other prescribed treatments, as well as helping with basic needs and comforts. The nurse is often a liaison between the patient and their family and the physician. The nurse can often explain in layman’s terms what the doctor has diagnosed and, using knowledge from years on the job, comfort the patient and family members.

The Importance of Nursing in the Community

Nurses are an important part of the community. Particularly in under-served areas, a patient may receive a good deal of their primary care from a nurse. Immunization clinics and health screenings are just two of the ways that nurses serve the community. Without community nurses, many children would be unable to attend school, or be unable to see the chalk board, or older patients would be unaware of high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

Community nursing is growing in importance as health care becomes unaffordable for many families. Community nurses often implement low cost programs that allow members of the community to receive help in losing weight, monitoring their blood pressure, or obtaining dental or eye exams for their children.

Nursing in the Home Care Setting

Nurses that work in home health care provide a valuable service to their clients. Often an elderly person is unable to live on their own, but does not want to give up their independence and enter a nursing home. Sometime, a child with a medical condition can stay home, but needs therapy daily. In situations such as these, a home health nurse is invaluable. The nurse makes up a schedule that is set up by the treating physician, and visits homes, administering therapy, checking on the client’s well being, and assessing the patient for any additional needs they may have.

A Higher Level of Care

One of the problems with the rising cost of health care is the lack of access to physicians. Many nurses are furthering their education in ways that help the entire medical community. A registered nurse that has completed his or her bachelor degree may continue on to one of many branches of graduate school. After specialization, she will graduate as a nurse practitioner, and specialize in midwife and delivery, community health, family care, or anesthetics. Although supervision levels vary by state, the nurse practitioner typically works under the supervision of a physician.

While the nurse practitioner must work under a physician, she has a great deal of autonomy. It is not a situation where the nurse is directly supervised. The physician is available for consultation, and may review charts and diagnosis on occasion, but the nurse practitioner can order tests, refer patients to specialists and has prescribing authority. Nurse practitioners have enhanced the level of care offered in many poor and rural communities. They also allow a hospital to reduce its costs by providing services that in the past were only offered by a physician.

There is a shortage of nurses in the US. The short term solution is to hire nurses from other countries but since this deprives the locals from working for the same job, the government and the private sector have set up more schools that will encourage students to take this noble profession.

If you are seriously considering being a nurse, the first question you have to ask yourself is why you want this job? Should your answer be for money or for fame, then you better think of another career path.

Nursing is a demanding profession that requires dedication. It is not a 9 to 5 job because sometimes, you may be assigned to work the graveyard shift or extend beyond 8 hours of work especially when there are a lot of patients to attend to.

For those that just graduated from high school and still dont know what to do, you may sign up as a volunteer in a clinic or hospital so you get to see first hand what do these individuals do. Some activities nurses do on a regular basis include collecting samples from patients, checking their vital signs, blood pressure and temperature.

Should you be able to handle the pressures and feel good helping patients, then you should consider being a nurse.

A career in nursing can take you to places. For instance, traveling nurses who work on a contractual basis can be employed in some of the best medical facilities in the country. That is after they specialize in something for more than year like working in the emergency room department or the operating room.

Critical care nursing could be another possibility where you are assigned to look after patients in intensive care. This is perhaps the most challenging since the life of the patient is in the balance. For those that dont want to work in such a stressful environment, you can try working in a home healthcare facility, outpatient surgery center or teaching in a nursing school.

Hospitals and clinics have also shifted to the digital age which is why computers are needed to link one department to another. You could get a job as a programmer here and updated their programs or write one. Since you built the system, you can train others who will use it in the future or sell a similar program to other hospitals and work as a consultant for them.

If you love children, you can find work in neonatal nursing. Here, you get the chance to work with healthy newborn babies as well as those that are born prematurely. Your job does not end there because there are pediatric home health care facilities which you can find employment and teach parents about the importance of prevention against certain illnesses.

Considering a career in nursing should not be taken lightly especially when the life of a patient is in your hands. This is why you should think about it very carefully because you could be happy doing this for a long time or regret it if this is something you were not mean to do in the first place.

How things will turn out is entirely up to you. Dont do it for the money or the fame but in the service of others.