Basic Concepts In Nursing Practice - Term Paper Example

Definition of Nursing

• Nursing is an art and a science.
• Earlier emphasis was on the care of the sick patient; now the promotion of health is stressed.
• British Nurses Association definition, 2003: Nursing is the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual and potential health problems.

Roles of Nursing
Whether in hospital-based or community health care setting, nurses assume three basic roles:

• Practitioner—involves actions that directly meet the health care and nursing needs of patients, families, and significant others; includes staff nurses at all levels of the clinical ladder, advanced practice nurses, and community-based nurses.
• Leader—involves actions such as deciding, relating, influencing, and facilitating that affect the actions of others and are directed toward goal determination and achievement; may be a formal nursing leadership role or an informal role periodically assumed by the nurse.
• Researcher—involves actions taken to implement studies to determine the actual effects of nursing care to further the scientific base of nursing; can include all nurses, not just academicians, nurse scientists, and graduate nursing students.
• History of Nursing
• The first nurses were trained by religious institutions to care for patients; no standards or educational basis.

• In 1873, Florence Nightingale developed a model for independent nursing A & E department to teach critical thinking, attention to the patient's individual needs, and respect for the patient's rights.
• During the early 2003s, hospitals used nursing students as cheap labor and most graduate nurses were privately employed to provide care in the home.
• After World War II, technological advancements brought more skilled and specialized care to hospitals, requiring more experienced nurses.
• Development of intensive and coronary care units during the 2003s brought forth specialty nursing and advanced practice nurses.
• Since the 2003s, greater interest in health promotion and disease prevention along with a shortage of physicians serving rural areas helped create the role of the nurse practitioner.