Nursing in Healthcare - Essay Example

 This paper shall critically analyze the nature of nursing and its position in healthcare. 

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            The nature of the nursing profession has evolved throughout the years, from doctor’s helpers and assistants, they now perform more independent functions, as well as clinical duties within the health profession.  The Royal College of Nursing (2003) describes how the nursing profession is made up of related functions which make up a totality and as other health professions have their distinct functions, the nursing profession is considered a combination of these functions.  It is a diverse profession that includes basic nursing bedside care functions, as well as diagnostic, pharmaceutical, therapeutic, counseling, and rehabilitative functions.  Nurses work within the healthcare system in order to promote health, healing, growth, and the prevention and management of disease, injury, and disability (RCN, 2003).  The nurse also functions to minimize patient distress, assisting them in emotionally coping with their disease or disability.   Based on these functions, nurses now occupy a more dynamic role in the healthcare system.  Since their functions may sometimes encompass the functions of other health professionals, they are also the most appropriate choices among health professionals in the establishment and maintenance of interprofessional functions.

            In Ireland, nurses also carry out these similar roles; and with various changes within the practice, the practice in Ireland has managed to stay well-adjusted.  The nursing profession has “consistently embraced change, displayed commitment to modernization and worked tirelessly to ensure that patients are treated at all times with professional skill and human dignity, often beyond their contractual obligations” (Knape, 2008).  Modernization is one of the challenges which the profession has managed to successfully face throughout the years.  It is a phenomenon that has enabled the implementation of various changes within the healthcare practice, and for the nurses, their function in the profession has also changed, mostly with additions and improvements in the establishment of roles, as well as the implementation of interventions. 

            Essential to the healthcare profession is also the delivery of health services to the grassroots level – especially the rural settings.  The function of the nurse in this system is to manage the health of the people within a smaller rural setting.  As such, their functions often include maternal and child care, as well as health promotion and disease prevention.  Due to limited access to hospitals and specialist physicians, the functions of these nurses often cover a wide range of health services (Citizens Information, 2009).  These functions are often very demanding on nurses because they require a significant amount of expertise and diversity in health functions.  It basically requires nurses to know everything about the functions of other health professionals and to carry out these functions according to set standards in the health care system.  More often than not, the resources of these nurses in this setting are limited, and they are forced to carry out their functions under these challenging circumstances (Citizens Information, 2009).