Can you tell me.......

[14yrdstudent]

I'm a student in 8th grade.I am doing a project on nurses.I picked the topic of a nurse because I thought that it would be an interesting job.I really would like to know what do you do as a nurse.I dont want fo you to tell me everything because that'd be too much to ask.I've looked all over the net and they don't tell you that much.I mostly need to know:

Do you need to go to college?

What are the benefits of the job?

Do you enjoy the job?

What do you basically do in the job?(I know that there are many types of nurses,but what do you basically do?)

I'd really apreciate it if you would answer these questions,I would be very helpful to me.

Thank you for everything!

[mustangsheba]

Hi 14. You must be a little hacker. How did you find us? I'm a master of short answers, so I thought I'd give you mine.

1. Yes, we have to go to college, but some of us go for different degrees, some require two years, some four, and some of us even have doctorates in nursing - Dr. Nurse, so to speak.

2. The benefits are mostly personal fulfillment. Nurses are a little bit like nuns. It's a calling. Ours souls are enriched and our lives made complete by taking care of people when they are unable to take care of themselves.

3. Most of us enjoy the job of taking care of people. We don't enjoy the part about filling out endless forms required to get paid by insurance companies or to cover us in case there is a lawsuit.

4. A day in the life of a regular beginner nurse is go to the hospital, be assigned five to seven patients who have had surgery or are just sick. The first thing we do is get report from the nurse who has taken care of these patients on the preceding shift so we know how the patient is responding to their treatment. Then we check what medicines we will be giving each patient for our shift. Then we go into each room and check the patients blood pressure, pulse, breathing, and temperature, listen to their lungs and heart and stomach, check their skin for color and texture and swelling, notice if they smell right, if they are happy or sad, if they know where they are, if they are urinating and having bowel movements - very important. Are they eating. If they've had surgery, we check the incision for healing and/or signs of infection. We make sure they have medication for pain so we can get them to walk. One of the most important factors in healing is exercise. All the time we are doing these things, we are teaching the patients what they need to know to get well and stay well. You are right. There are lots of different kinds of nurses. This is just very basic stuff. Hope this is what you wanted.