Nurses from all over the world are trained and tasked to give professional medical care to patients. They often work in hospitals, small clinics, or any medical facilities. Some may think nurses are the doctor’s assistants, but their role exceeds so much more than that.
Nurses engage with patients on a daily basis and their care depends on the specific needs of the patients. In different fields of medical specialty, nurses are always present to assist the attending physician and even give direct care to the patients.
How Do You Become a Nurse?
To become a licensed nurse, one must take a four-year college degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing or BSN. This program specifically teaches students the necessary skills and knowledge for health care that revolves around the four main components of nursing: health promotion, disease prevention, risk reduction, and health restoration.
Being a nurse may also hold different levels of specialties, including:
- Clinical Nurse Midwife (CNM)
- Nurses who are in this specialty offer gynecological and obstetrics services. They mostly work in hospitals and birthing clinics. They assist physicians to take care of women’s reproductive health.
- Registered nurse (RN)
- They are tasked to manage and update a patient’s medical record. These nurses are also tasked to give direct care to the patients, mostly seen in emergency rooms.
- Nurse Practitioner (NP)
- These nurses are the ones that handle minor conditions and injuries and have the authority to write prescriptions.
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
- These nurses are the ones who administer drugs to relieve pain and prepare a patient for surgery. They mostly work in operating rooms.
The majority of fresh graduates immediately apply for jobs in hospitals after they have adequately learned and acquired the necessary abilities. There are vital considerations to keep in mind when applying if you’re thinking of doing the same. Aside from acquiring all the skills required in this job, you must also know how to present and perform them well. This includes effectively writing it in your nursing resume and making it look as attractive as possible.
A Nurse’s Role in The Hospital
If you are an aspiring nurse, it is very important to understand what their roles in the hospital are. In doing so, you can get a heads up on what you are about to encounter once you apply for a job. In different fields of specialties, there are different types of treatment and performance to be done. The role of nurses depends on what the patient needs. Here are 4 of the most common tasks nurses are responsible for:
- Recording medical history and symptoms
- A nurse is tasked to keep records of the patient’s progress in medication. It is their job to keep records of the medicine taken, their vitals, blood pressure, treatments made, and more. It is essential for this job to maintain accurate documentation in their charts, as well as talk to the patient about how they are feeling in order to create an effective conclusion on what they may need.
- Administering remedies and medication
- With their attending physician’s order, a nurse can administer medications to a patient. Nurse practitioners are allowed to create a prescription even without a physician’s permission. Some specialized nurses are also allowed to assist doctors in more complex procedures or in emergency procedures.
- Be in charge of physical examinations
- In connection to documenting the patient’s progress and medication treatments, nurses also conduct physical examinations and diagnostic tests in order to assess a patient’s overall health. This includes: checking blood pressure, and weight, testing the patient’s reflexes, monitoring the heartbeat, and examining the eyes, nose, and ears.
- Informing patients about managing their illness
- Part of a nurse’s job is to enlighten a patient about the proper maintenance of their medical condition. This includes explaining the proper time to intaking their medications and when the patient should see a doctor for follow-up checking.
Conclusion
Generally, working in hospitals to provide medical aid is very challenging especially when the life of your patient is in your hands. Handling emergencies, diagnosing, handling crises, life or death situations, and handling a number of different illnesses and injuries are all part of a nurse’s job. These are just some of the many discussions and lessons a nursing student will go through, along the way to medical school, one will surely pick up new valuable lessons.