Unit 2: Roles of Nurse in Health

care

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 Objectives
By the end of the session students will be able to:
1. Discuss Professional
2. Explain Characteristics of a Profession.
3. Describe Role of the Professional nurse.
4. Enlist of Career roles.
5. Description of Nurse role as Communicator.
6. Sketch role of a Nurse as a Teacher.
7. Explain role of nurse as a Counselor.
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 Nursing
• The word Nurse originates from the Latin Nutrix, meaning “to Nourish”.

• It may be defined as a service to the individual that helps him/her obtain a

healthy state of mind or body and relieve pain and discomfort.

• Nursing is a profession within the healthcare 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 healthcare providers by

their approach to patient care, training, and scope of practice.
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 Definition of a Nurse

• The nurse is a person who has completed a program of basic,

generalized nursing education and is authorized by the appropriate
regulatory authority to practice nursing in his/her country.

• Basic nursing education is a formally recognized program of study

provided by a board and sound foundation

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Florence Nightingale definition of Nursing

 “The act of utilizing the environment of the

patient to assist him in his recovery" (Nightingale,
1860).

• Nightingale considered five environmental factors: fresh air,

pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness or sanitation, and
light/direct sunlight.

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 Aim and Objectives of Nursing
• Nurses provide care for three types of clients:
individuals, families, and communities.
• Nursing practice involves four areas:
1. Promoting Health and wellness
2. Preventing Illness
3. Restoring Health
4. Facilitating coping with disability or death
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 Promoting Health and Wellness
Wellness:
Wellness is a state of well-being. It means engaging in attitudes and
behavior that enhance the quality of life and maximize personal potential.

Nurses promote wellness in clients who are both healthy and ill. This
may involve individual and community activities to enhance healthy
lifestyles.
Such as improving nutrition and physical fitness, preventing drug
and alcohol misuse, restricting smoking, and preventing accidents
and injury in the home and workplace.

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 Cont..
Preventing Illness: The goal of illness preventing programs is to maintain
optimal health by preventing disease. Nursing activities that prevent illness
include hand washing, immunizations, prenatal and infant care, and
prevention of sexually transmitted disease etc.

Restoring Health: Focuses on the ill client and it extends from early
detection of disease through helping the client during the recovery period.

Care of the Dying: This area of nursing practice involves comforting and
caring for people of all ages who are dying.

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 Nursing Activities
Include the following
• Providing direct care to the ill person, such as administering
medications, baths, and specific procedures and treatments.
• Performing diagnostic and assessment procedures, such as
measuring blood pressure and examining feces for occult blood.
• Consulting with other health care professionals about client
problems.
• Teaching clients: About recovery activities, such as exercises
that will accelerate recovery after a stroke. 9
 Cont..
• Rehabilitating: Clients to their optimal functional level following
physical or mental illness, injury, or chemical addiction.

• Care of the Dying: This area of nursing practice involves

comforting and caring for people of all ages who are dying. it
includes helping clients live as comfortably as possible until death
and helping support person cope with death.

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 What is a Profession?
• A profession is an occupation that typically requires specialized knowledge,
training, and skills, Obtained through education and experience.

• Usually regulated by professional bodies or associations that set standards

for practice, ethics, and qualifications.

• Professions often involve a commitment to public service and adherence to a

code of conduct.

• Examples include medicine, law, engineering, and teaching.

Two terms related to profession need to be differentiated

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1. Professionalization: acquiring characteristics considered to be
a professional. It is actually Process
• Professionals are always accountable for their tasks and acts.
• As professionals, nurses are accountable for providing quality
care.
&
2. Professionalism: Refers to professional character, spirit, or
methods. It is a set of attributes, a way of life that suggests
responsibility and commitment.
• (Accountability is the process in which individuals are
answerable for their actions and have an obligation (or duty) to
act). 12
 Characteristics of a Profession
• Specialized education and skills

• Code of ethics (Ethical behavior, Respect and responsibility)

• Research orientation

• Autonomy

• Service orientations

• Professional Organization

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 Characteristics of a Profession
• Professional appearance (dressing, hygienic condition, use of Professional
language)
• Organized (Effective time management)

• Accountable (gain the credit, answerable for mishaps)

• Emotional control (handling the stressful situation)

• Strong communicator: (Convey the messages effectively, efficiently &

actively listen and understand).

• Possesses soft skills: (leadership, critical thinking, teamwork, and skills )

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 Professions vs. Occupations
Professions Occupations
1. College or University 1. On-the-job training
2. Prolonged education 2. Length varies
3. Mental Creativity 3. Largely manual work
4. Decisions based on science or 4. Guided decision making
theoretical constructs
5. Values, beliefs & ethics are integral 5. Values, beliefs & ethics not part
parts of preparation of preparation
6. Autonomous 6. Supervised

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 Qualities of a professional Nurse
Respectful, honest, and well-mannered. Sympathetic, empathetic.

Disciplined, obedient, alert, organized Interpret patient information and make

& intelligent. critical decisions about needed actions.
Adjustable. Provide basic care to clients and
Physically and mentally healthy. administer treatments as advised.
Technically competent, resourceful & Observe the patient’s response and
economic. adaptation to treatments, and illness.
Able to inspire confidence.
Research oriented.
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BENNER’S LEVEL OF PROFICIENCY
 Novice – student nurse entering a clinical setting where he has no
experience at all.

 Advance – The nurse who demonstrates a marginally acceptable

performance: depends on rules. Recognizes the meaningful "aspects" of
a real situation and makes judgments about them. It's not excellent,
good, or even satisfactory, but rather the lowest level of performance
that is still considered tolerable.

 Competent – 2 – 3 years experience demonstrates organizational ability

but lacks speed and flexibility of a proficient nurse.
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 Cont.…
 Proficient: Has 3 to 5 years of experience. Perceives situations as wholes
rather than in terms of parts, as in Stage II. Has a holistic understanding of the
client, which improves decision-making, and Focuses on long-term goals.

 Expert – No longer relies on maxims, performance is highly proficient, fluid

flexible, and has a holistic view.

- Has high perceptual acuity(being perceptive, aware, and able to pick up

on nuances that others might miss) or a clinical eye.
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Roles and Functions of the Nurse
Caregiver

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 Caregiver

Communicator

Teacher or Educator

Counselor
Nurse

Advocate

Researcher

Manager
Professional Roles and Responsibilities of

Leader
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 Roles of the Nurse

1. Caregiver/ Care provider:

• Traditionally included those activities that assist the client physically and
psychologically while preserving the client's dignity.

• Required nursing actions may involve full care for the completely dependent
client, partial care for the partially dependent client, and supportive-educative
care to assist clients in attaining their highest possible level of health and wellness.

• Caregiving encompasses the physical, psychosocial, developmental, cultural, and

spiritual levels. 21
 2. Communication
• Communication is integral to all nursing roles.

• Nurses communicate with the client, support persons, other health

professionals, and people in the community.

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 3. Teacher
• As a teacher, the nurse helps clients learn about their health and the healthcare
procedures they need to perform to restore or maintain health.

• The nurse assesses the client's learning needs and readiness to learn, sets specific
learning goals in conjunction with the client, enacts teaching strategies, and
measures learning.

• Provides information and helps the client to learn or acquire new knowledge and
technical skills

• Promotes a healthy lifestyle

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• Interprets information to the client
 4. Counselor
• Counselor helps a client to recognize and cope with stressful psychological or social
problems and provides emotional and psychological support.

• Focuses on helping a client to develop new attitudes, feelings, and behaviors.

• Encourages the client to look at alternative

behaviors recognize the choices and develop
a sense of control.

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 5. Client advocate

• Involves concern for an actions in behalf of the client to bring about

a change.

• Promotes what is best for the client, ensuring that the client’s needs are
met and protecting the client’s right.

• Provides explanation in clients language and support clients decisions.

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 6. Researcher

• Participates in identifying significant researchable problems.

• Participates in scientific investigation and must be a consumer of

research findings.

• Must be aware of the research process, the language of research, and

sensitivity to issues related to protecting the rights of human subjects.

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 7. Manager

• Makes decisions, coordinates activities of others, allocate resources,

evaluate care and planning, give direction, develop staff, monitors
operations, give the rewards fairly and represents both staff and
administrations as needed.

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8. Leader
A leader influences others to work together to accomplish a specific
goal. The leader role can be employed at different levels: individual
client, family, groups of clients, colleagues, or the community.
Effective leadership is a learned process requiring an understanding of
the needs and goals that motivate people, the knowledge to apply the
leadership skills, and the interpersonal skills to influence others.

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 Carrier Roles
• Provider of Care
• Advance Practice Register Nurse (APRN)
• Clinical Nurse Specialist
• Nurse Practitioner
• Certified Nurse Midwife
• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
• Nurse Administrator
• Nurse Researcher
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 Expanded role of the nurse

1. Clinical Specialist
A nurse who has completed a master’s degree in a specialty and has
considerable clinical expertise in that specialty.

He/She provides expert care to individuals, participates in educating health care

professionals and subordinates, acts as a clinical consultant, and participates in
research
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 2. Nurse Practitioner
• Is a nurse who has completed either a certificate program or a master’s degree
in a specialty and is also certified by the appropriate specialty organization.

• Areas of practice are - such as adult nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner,
school nurse practitioner, pediatric nurse practitioner, or gerontology nurse
practitioner.

• They usually deal with nonemergency acute or chronic illnesses and provide
primary ambulatory care.

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 Cont.

3. Nurse-midwife
A nurse who has completed a program in midwifery; provides prenatal and
postnatal care and delivers babies to women with uncomplicated pregnancies.

4. Nurse anesthetist
A nurse who completed the course of study in an anesthesia school and carries
out the pre-operative status of clients.
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 References
 Kozier, B., Erb, G., Berman, A., & Snyder, S. J. (2010). Fundamental Of Nursing:
Concepts, Process, And Practice. Prentice Hall.

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