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Nursing is a profession focused on caring for individuals, families, and communities to help them attain and maintain good health. Nurses work in various healthcare settings like hospitals, clinics, and laboratories. They develop plans of care with physicians and other providers to treat illness and improve quality of life. Nursing has a long history with roots in religious orders, and the profession faced setbacks when traditional caretakers were removed during the Protestant Reformation but has since grown significantly.

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70 views4 pages

Nursing: Jump To Navigationjump To Search

Nursing is a profession focused on caring for individuals, families, and communities to help them attain and maintain good health. Nurses work in various healthcare settings like hospitals, clinics, and laboratories. They develop plans of care with physicians and other providers to treat illness and improve quality of life. Nursing has a long history with roots in religious orders, and the profession faced setbacks when traditional caretakers were removed during the Protestant Reformation but has since grown significantly.

Uploaded by

Lawrence Decano
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Nursing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

For other uses, see Nursing (disambiguation).

"Nurse" and "Nurses" redirect here. For other uses, see Nurse (disambiguation).

Nurse

A British nurse caring for a baby

Occupation

Names Nurse

Activity sectors Nursing

Description

Competencies Caring for general well-being of patients


Education Qualifications in terms of statutory regulations
required
according to national, state, or provincial

legislation in each country

Fields of  Hospital
employment  Clinic

 Laboratory

 Research

 Education

Related jobs  Medicine

 Glossary of medicine

Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals,


families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health
and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health care providers by
their approach to patient care, training, and scope of practice. Nurses practice in
many specialties with differing levels of prescription authority. Many nurses provide care
within the ordering scope of physicians, and this traditional role has shaped the public
image of nurses as care providers. However, nurse practitioners are permitted by most
jurisdictions to practice independently in a variety of settings. Since the postwar period,
nurse education has undergone a process of diversification towards advanced and
specialized credentials, and many of the traditional regulations and provider roles are
changing.[1][2]
Nurses develop a plan of care, working collaboratively with physicians, therapists, the
patient, the patient's family, and other team members that focuses on treating illness to
improve quality of life. In the United States and the United Kingdom, advanced practice
nurses, such as clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners, diagnose health
problems and prescribe medications and other therapies, depending on individual state
regulations. Nurses may help coordinate the patient care performed by other members
of a multidisciplinary health care team such as therapists, medical practitioners, and
dietitians. Nurses provide care both interdependently, for example, with physicians, and
independently as nursing professionals.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Traditional
o 1.219th century
o 1.320th century
 2Definition
 3As a profession
o 3.1Gender issues
 4Theory and process
 5Scope of activities
o 5.1Activities of daily living assistance
o 5.2Medication
o 5.3Patient education
 6Specialties and practice settings
 7Occupational hazards
o 7.1Prevention
 8Worldwide
o 8.1Australia
o 8.2Canada
o 8.3Colombia
o 8.4European Union
o 8.5India
o 8.6Iran
o 8.7Israel
o 8.8Japan
o 8.9Spain
o 8.10Taiwan
o 8.11United Kingdom
o 8.12United States
 9See also
 10References
 11Bibliography
 12Further reading
o 12.1Historical
 13External links

History[edit]
Main articles: History of nursing and Timeline of nursing history

Traditional[edit]
Nursing historians face the challenge of determining whether care provided to the sick
or injured in antiquity was nursing care. [3] In the fifth century BC, for example,
the Hippocratic Collection in places describes skilled care and observation of patients
by male "attendants," who may have been early nurses. [4] Around 600 BC in India, it is
recorded in Sushruta Samhita, Book 3, Chapter V about the role of the nurse as "the
different parts or members of the body as mentioned before including the skin, cannot
be correctly described by one who is not well versed in anatomy. Hence, any one
desirous of acquiring a thorough knowledge of anatomy should prepare a dead body
and carefully, observe, by dissecting it, and examine its different parts."
Before the foundation of modern nursing, members of religious orders such
as nuns and monks often provided nursing-like care.[5] Examples exist in Christian,
[6]
 Islamic[7] and Buddhist[8] traditions amongst others. Phoebe, mentioned in Romans 16
has been described in many sources as "the first visiting nurse". [9][10] These traditions
were influential in the development of the ethos of modern nursing. The religious roots
of modern nursing remain in evidence today in many countries. One example in
the United Kingdom is the use of the historical title "sister" to refer to a senior nurse in
the past.[11]
During the Reformation of the 16th century, Protestant reformers shut down the
monasteries and convents, allowing a few hundred municipal hospices to remain in
operation in northern Europe. Those nuns who had been serving as nurses were given
pensions or told to get married and stay home.[12] Nursing care went to the inexperienced
as traditional caretakers, rooted in the Roman Catholic Church, were removed from
their positions. The nursing profession suffered a major setback for approximately 200
years.[13]

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