The advantages of the nursing profession to any society - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Healthcare is a priority for any society that appreciates the welfare of her citizens,and the role of the professional nurse in the quality of healthcare is crucial.However,not all societies appreciate the important role that the nurse plays in qualitative and effective healthcare delivery system.The purpose of this research is to document the cost implications of the absence of solid and working professional nursing community in any society,using community nursing as a yardstick.The research study will make use of a survey questionnaire to collect data from consenting subjects that shall include the elderly with frailty or other patients with special needs and long term admission in hospital settings,and professional nurses that have had several years of experience with special need patients.The consent of the subjects shall be sought before the questionnaire is administered on them and the confidentiality of the subjects maintained.Human subject approval will also be obtained from the School of Nursing.Descriptive statistics and correlational statistics will be used to analyse the data collected to determine the perception of nursing in the community and the perceived cost of long term hospital admission.It is hoped that the results of this study would make the government and healthcare professional redesign the healthcare system around a professional nursing community as is obtained in several developed countries where the roles of the nurse in qualitative healthcare delivery have been appreciated....
As if that is not enough, nurses are known to advocate for health promotion, educate patients and the public on the prevention of illness and injury, provide care and assist in cure, participate in rehabilitation, and provide support. No other healthcare professional can reasonable make claims to such a complex and far reaching role in healthcare delivery (Lenburg, 1999; Importance of Nursing, 2006).

Nurses do more than care for individuals. They have always have been at the forefront of change in health care and public health, they provide ongoing assessment of people's health. Their round-the-clock presence, observation skills, and vigilance allow doctors to make better diagnoses and propose better treatments. Many lives have been saved because an attentive nurse picked upon early warning signs of an upcoming crisis like cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.

According to Thomson (1997), the role of the professional nurse goes beyond the carrying out of tasks usually associated with the profession, especially in countries where the role of the nurse has not been fully appreciated, neither is the nurse restricted to just 'caring' for the patient. She argued that every professional nurse is taught and mandated to act always in such a manner as to:
safeguard and promote the interests of individual patients and clients;
serve the interests of society,
justify public trust and confidence and
uphold and enhance the good standing and reputation of the professions

One important aspect of nursing that greatly affects the quality of life of any society is community nursing, also referred to as visiting homecare nursing. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More