What the nurses are portrayed as does not match the actuality of the situation as nurses are always seem to be taken as a step beneath most of the medical hierarchy, simply lacking the authority or autonomous jurisdiction, or at the least their work being void of any scholarly approach. (Dominiak 2004). The last 3 decades of the 20th century and the first one of the 21st have been the most significant due to tremendous development in the field of nursing, 21st century, in particular, with respect to professionalization. Nightingale and Henderson have served the nursing field most evidently across boundaries, in respectively the 19th and the 20th century. Moreover, the nursing profession has further developed its academic credibility in the last few years, which has resulted in a variety of nursing levels, like bachelor, master and doctoral degrees.
Nursing is not just about treating the ill, it is focused on the quality of care that we are delivering to our patient according to their individualized needs. Nursing is much more than just the physical aspects it also what we see internal wellness. Nursing has given me new challenges every day, pushed me to my limits. Nursing has taught me to think critically and used my clinical judgment. Choice of Nursing I chose nursing as a career because I knew it was my calling.
There is a need for affordable healthcare for both the poor and middle class who often go uninsured and therefore unable to receive medical care (Ehrenreich, 1979; Mason et al., 2002, p. 35). For nurses it is important to take on leadership roles, so nurses can influence change by entering social, political, and economic arenas (Kleffel, 2006). To start, “nursing education should include subjects like political economy of health systems, environmental hazards, women’s studies, the history of social movements, and techniques and strategies of political organizing (Ehrenreich, 1979; Mason et al., 2002, p. 36). With proper education nurses can start to understand that they can bring about change and redefine the role of a nurse as an activist as well as an advocate (Ehrenreich, 1979; Mason et al., 2002, p.
Within the medical field, there are thousands of job opportunities. The career that intrigues me the most is nursing. Nurses are hands-on professionals who provide attentive and very personalized care. Their main job is to promote health, prevent disease and help their patients cope with illness. The nursing field offers a wide range of career options, which varies from entry-level practitioner to doctoral-level researcher.
Over the last few years, nursing has emerged as one of the most preferred professions in the health care industry. In fact, it is one of its own kinds of a profession that provides you with an ample of opportunities to spend your life helping others. Today there is rarely any other profession like nursing that offer such a challenging yet gratifying mixture of high touch, care and technology. It is a career that offers both women and men a wide range of alternatives for professional development and the personal satisfaction. Working as a nurse, you may be the key healthcare professional working closely with physicians as an essential part of the patient health care team.
The nation’s health is at risk and nurse should be encouraged to continue their education. Advancing educational levels help to prepare nurses for leadership roles and encourage autonomy in the nursing profession and practice. With health care policy constantly changing it is imperative nurses begin to design and advocate for healthcare policy to decrease or eliminate health care inequities. The American Nurses Association’s current definition of nursing is “the protection, promotion and optimization of health abilities prevention of illness and injury alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities and populations” (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2016, pg.
This can range from how one behaves, his or her attitude to grooming standards. Many nurses now take on more roles and responsibilities in patient care as compared to in the past, a sign of how nursing has evolved from a just a job to becoming a profession. Educational opportunities as well as career advancement has also developed over the years to cater to the higher status of nurses and nursing. However, most members of the public are neither informed nor aware of the changing job scope and responsibilities of the professional nurse and thus view nurses unfavourably. Hence, this is one of the public’s perceptions of nurses that need to be changed.
Nurses developed professionalism with prodigious knowledge, however public does not always price the services and capability that nurses have learned through education and innovation. The actual public image of nursing is varied and incongruous. The public appears to have little awareness of what nurses actually do and what actually a nurse is (Morris et al, 2011). What public think about nurses and nursing profession will really boost our self-image. The professional parts of the work remain invisible to media as a result of leading positions of the medical profession.
Apart from donning the clinic uniform, we also set guidelines on general appearances and basic grooming standards to complete the professional image. “Although the main roles of nurses involve assessment, planning and delivery of nursing skills, nurses today are actively involved in providing patient education, counselling and working in close collaboration with their medical counterparts” (Kannusamy, 2005, p. 595). Therefore, we are also looking at organizing customer service courses for the nurses. It will equip them with the confidence and professionalism to handle the day-today interactions and issues that surface during the course of the care provided. Also, they will be able to put to good use the appropriate interpersonal skills when dealing our patients and other professions in the healthcare
For example, the nurses should be patient and carefully to take care disabled clients. There are some change of the roles and responsibilities in nursing. Firstly, the nurses are more professional. Nowadays, the most of the nurses have high educational level such as the bachelor degree or the master degree. Apart from the clinical skills, they study different aspects of knowledge like pharmacology or Chinese medicine.