Introduction to Nursing Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to Nursing Science - Essay Example In my view, nursing involves protection, optimization and promotion of people’s abilities and health. Professional nurse and characteristics Professional nurse refers to an individual who have undergone necessary training to become a nurse. As a challenging profession, dedication is a critical characteristic, and nurses need to be calm in order to handle multiple problems. System thinking is also paramount in order to offer the best care to all patients (Arizona State Board of Nursing, 2003). Another essential characteristic is the ability to offer patient-centered care. This is because every nurse is required to care for patients in every health care system. Last, but not the least is the ability to be religious and ethnic sensitive. Professional nurses care for people from different religions and cultures and should therefore demonstrate the ability to accommodate varied practices while adhering to professional standards. PART B How common stereotypes differ from realities o f nursing Stereotype as a cognitive framework refers to traits that are attributed to an entire group of people. According to Alford, et al. (1995), stereotypes are described as ‘pictures in our heads’. Stereotypes in nursing reflect the profession by closing the gap between its colorful image and the reality. The idea of self-sacrifice and philanthropic nature of this profession perpetuates the view that pay is irrelevant since one obtains satisfaction from caring the sick. However, similar to other professions, nurses also deserve remuneration for services rendered. Secondly, the growing number of highly qualified nurses is continually seen as a threat to doctors’ monopoly. Contrary to this belief, the nursing profession has made it clear that both doctors and nurses perform their professional work independently. Two roles that nurses have that the public might not be aware of Nurses work closely with doctors to help prevent medication errors and facilitate a r eduction of infection rates. In addition, the health care systems are presently allowing nurses to liaise with administrators to help strike the right balance by providing the best clinical care at controlled cost. More importantly, nurses are now playing a vital role by offering patients health education, a role that was previously carried out by social workers. A role model nursing theorist Florence Nightgale, the founder of modern nursing was dedicated to offering care for sick people. Nightgale’s nursing theory emphasized on the healing properties of the physical environment, that is, light, fresh air, cleanliness and warmth. This theory was based on the relationship nursing had with external influences to suppress and prevent diseases (National League for Nursing, 2010). The goal was to help patients maintain their vitality by controlling the environment. The reason behind choosing Nightgale’s theory of environment is that environment affects health, and it is one of the nurse's goal to providing adequate light, fresh air, cleanliness and warmth to enhance environment in order to facilitate the patient's reparative process. PART C The nature of nurses’ work It is not entirely right to claim that nurses follow doctors’ orders. Even though this has been the saying dating back to early history of this profession, nurses focus more on a humanized aspects of health care. Undeniably, it is true that nurses collaborate with doctors on medical management of patients, but nurses do more than only working on disease path physiology. In this respect, provision of nursing care involves offering therapeutic care, executing health care procedures and techniques among