FUNDA

• Definition of a profession:

  • An occupation or calling requiring advanced training and experience in a specific or specialized body of knowledge that provides service to society
• Other definitions of a profession:

  • A vocation requiring intensive and specialized education in the field of science or liberal arts
  • An undertaking where members acquire specific values, knowledge, training, or experience to competently serve others
  • An undertaking where a person provides a distinctive service using scientific and specialized knowledge and skills
• Characteristics of a profession:

  1. Must have developed a scientific technique from tested experience

  2. Must require discretion and judgment in the performance of duties

  3. Must have a group consciousness to extend scientific knowledge in technical language

  4. Must have self-impelling power to retain members throughout life

  5. Must recognize obligations to society by insisting on an established code of ethics
• Qualifications and abilities of a professional nurse:

  A. Professional Preparation:

  • Must have a nursing license
  • Must have a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing
  • Must be physically and mentally fit

  B. Personal Qualities & Professional Proficiencies:

  • Interest and willingness to work and learn with individuals/groups
  • Warm personality and concern for people
  • Resourcefulness, creativity, and emotional balance
  • Capacity to work cooperatively, initiative for self-improvement
  • Competence in decision-making, communication, and research orientation
• Roles of a professional nurse:

  1. Care Provider: Assists clients physically and psychologically while preserving dignity

  2. Communicator: Identifies client problems and communicates them to the health team

  3. Teacher: Helps clients learn about health and necessary procedures

  4. Counselor: Helps clients cope with psychological or social problems

  5. Client Advocate: Protects client rights and promotes their best interests

  6. Change Agent: Initiates change to promote client health

  7. Leader: Helps clients establish and achieve health goals

  8. Case Manager: Works with the healthcare team to monitor outcomes and delegate tasks

  9. Researcher: Participates in scientific investigation and uses research findings in practice
• Expanded nursing roles:

  • Nurse Practitioner: Advanced education graduate from a nurse practitioner program
  • Nurse Specialist: Expert in a specialized area with advanced degree or expertise
  • Nurse Anesthetist: Administers anesthetics for surgery
  • Nurse Midwife: Manages deliveries in normal pregnancies
  • Nurse Researcher: Employed in academic institutions and research centers
  • Nurse Administrator: Manages budgeting, staffing, and program planning
  • Nurse Educator: Teaches in nursing programs and hospital staff education
  • Nurse Entrepreneur: Manages health-related businesses
• Characteristics of a profession as applied to nursing practice:

  • Adheres to a common code of ethics
  • Requires well-defined skills continuously performed
  • Accountability for professional decisions and actions
  • Competence in providing safe patient care
  • Ethical conduct and morality
  • Caring profession focused on service to humanity
  • Service-oriented with the goal of delivering optimum health
  • Professional relationship with patient-centered care
  • Autonomy and altruism in performing professional functions
• Nurses have the responsibility to comply with professional standards to avoid possible liabilities
• Nurses must be mindful of the conduct of colleagues and other health care team members
• Autonomy in nursing must be regulated and adhere to existing nursing laws, Code of Ethics, policies, and guidelines
• Nurses are responsible for overseeing the conduct and demeanor of other health providers to ensure tasks are properly carried out and patients are protected
• Key responsibilities of a nurse include:

  • Nursing Process
  • Safe & Quality Nursing Care
  • Health Education
  • Legal Responsibility
  • Management of Resources & Environment
  • Quality Improvement
  • Research
  • Personal & Professional Development
  • Communication
  • Collaboration and teamwork
  • Record Management
• The scope of nursing practice includes providing nursing care through the utilization of the nursing process
• Nursing care encompasses various life stages from conception to old age
• Nurses are responsible for establishing linkages with community resources, providing health education, supervising students in nursing education programs, and undertaking nursing and health human resource development training and research
• Nurses promote wellness in clients, engage in activities that enhance a healthy lifestyle, and prevent illness through various measures like immunization and prenatal care
• The goal of illness prevention programs is to maintain optimal health by preventing disease
• Nurses provide direct care to ill individuals, perform diagnostic procedures, consult with other healthcare professionals, teach clients about recovery activities, and rehabilitate clients following illness or injury
• Nurses caring for the dying focus on comforting and caring for individuals who are approaching the end of life
• Fields of nursing include institutional nursing, public health nursing, independent nursing practice, advanced practice nursing, and nursing education
• School nursing involves providing health services, health education, and environmental health and safety in a school setting
• Clinical nursing requires nurses to possess general skills and perform various tasks such as reception duties, billing, x-rays, ECGs, changing dressings, giving injections, and assisting in physical examinations
• Military nursing involves working in different health settings with varying levels of responsibilities within the military nurse corps
• Private duty nursing entails providing comprehensive nursing care to a client on a one-to-one basis as an independent contractor
• Industrial or occupational health nursing focuses on delivering healthcare services to workers to promote, protect, and supervise their health in a safe work environment
• The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
• Health is defined by people in relation to their own values, personality, and lifestyle
• The history of nursing dates back to ancient civilizations where nursing care was provided by midwives, wet nurses, and slave nurses
• Pender and colleagues define health as the actualization of inherent and acquired human potential through goal-directed behavior, competent self-care, and satisfying relationships with others while making adjustments as needed to maintain structural integrity and harmony with the environment
• In ancient times, nursing care was related to physical maintenance, comfort, and natural instincts
• Nursing in different regions like the Near East, China, India, Greece, and Rome had unique practices and beliefs related to healthcare and nursing roles
• Health is a relative state in which one is able to function well physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually to express the full range of one’s unique potentialities within the environment in which one lives
• Both health and illness are dynamic processes, with each person located on a continuum ranging from wellness and optimal functioning to illness culminating in death
• Models explain the relationships between health and illness concepts and a patient's attitudes towards health and health behaviors
• In ancient Greece and Rome, care of the sick and injured was advanced in mythology and reality
• Acute illness is usually short-term and severe, affecting functioning in any dimension
• Greek God Asklepios was the chief healer, with his daughter Hygeria being the goddess of health and embodiment of the nurse
• Chronic illness persists longer than 6 months, affecting functioning in any dimension, with patients fluctuating between maximal functioning and serious health relapses
• Nursing in Greco-Roman culture involved untrained slaves, and the introduction of the "caduceus," the insignia of the medical profession today
• Women were not tasked or given instruction regarding nursing due to the perception of the inferiority of females to males