function of a professional nurse

The nurse MONITORS the patient's response to the plan of care and COLLABORATES with the physician and team (physical therapy, dietician, pharmacist, etc) to ensure the appropriate plan of care is ordered, created and followed. Also in the military we wear badges of Nightingale's lamp with a doctor's snake and staff symbol in front of it. If you look at a military doctor's badge it is just a snake and staff; no lamp. A dentist's badge does not add much more to the doctor's badge, just a big "D" for dentist; again, no lamp. The professional nurse monitors, stays alert and ready for anything, especially if her whites have been replaced with camouflage... INCOMING!!!

Sherri RN...Thank you so much for helping me with this. I am writing an essay type paper for application to a BSN program. The question reads "what are the roles and functions of a professional nurse and how do you envision fufilling those at program completion?" I already had come up with the roles but could not figure out how to answer function...

Where are you stationed? I truly admire you for your service and God Bless.

You're welcome. I hope you get accepted into a program. You are resourceful, using a board like this to get answers to your questions. We need you in nursing. The functions of a professional nurse are to monitor the patients condition, collaborate with the physician and other team members and try to ensure the patient has a good outcome, within the guidance and flow of the nursing process (collect subjective and objective data, make nursing diagnoses and goals, plan, intervene, evaluate, and re-evaluate). Just how do you envision yourself fufilling those at program completion? Do you want to work in ER, do you want to work on a med surg unit then go to ICU? Do you want to work with kids :barf01: or fly around in air ambulances? :yeahthat: Do you have a family member who was acutely (short time) or chronically (long time) sick who impacted you? I'm stationed near San Francisco. Thanks for the kind words and Blessing. I need all the blessing I can get!

Sherri RN,

Thanks so much for your support. I am alittle nervous just because the university I'm applying to gets over 400 applicants for 20 seats.... So I know they really study the answers to each of the two questions to see just how serious you took them. I hope to go on to get my masters while working on med/surg (I think that is a good starting place) and hopefully do nurse practioner in an urgent care setting preferably like a fast track ER. Thanks again!!