Nursing Profession

Clovery · Sep 11, 2011

What personal characteristics are needed by a nurse?

Patience, empathy, accepting of change, precision, attention to details, caring, non-judgmental, flexibility, usually must get along well with other women

What are the responsiblities for a nurse and what are the constraints?

responsibilities include administering medications and treatments, patient/family education, providing patient comfort both physically and emotionally, paperwork. Constraints include (usually) can't give meds and many treatments without a doctor's order, nursing diagnoses not clinical dx, must follow procedures exactly or risk liability.

What are the educational requirements of a nurse?

education req. at a minimum (assuming you mean RN) an associates degree in nursing which takes about 2 years or more with the pre-reqs. knowledge of specific nursing topics plus core classes in science, math, english, computers

Are nurses only limited to hospitals and doctor's offices?

no, there's long term care, home care, hospice, travel nurses, mid-wives (home births), school nurses, nurses who counsel people at gyms, camps, ships, nurses in doctors without borders, nurses who tend to patients in hyperbaric chambers, etc.

Do you think nursing is a well respected profession within your community?

Yes, but it's also very common so while people are respectful and appreciative, they're not surprised or impressed by anyone being a nurse.

I'm in my second semester. Sorry if my responses weren't very structured or thorough but I'm just taking a break from writing a paper. Hope that helped a little.

kidari · Sep 11, 2011

Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for.

JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2011

Characteristics needed by a nurse - Integrity, organization, compassion, desire to understand, problem solving and decision making, knowing how to prioritize and re-prioritize, discernment.

Responsibilities/Constraints - Assessment of patients, medication administration, some sterile procedures such as dressing changes, NG tube placement, urinary catheter insertion. Patient education and communication with family members and other medical professionals. We are the eyes and ears for the patients. Constraints - time and number of patients being cared for require prioritizing care. Obviously all of your patients can't be taken care of at the same time. We don't diagnose but we do make observations and give the physician an idea of what we think is going on with the patient. While we need to give compassionate care, we try not to cross over into becoming too personal. There is a lot of "gray area" that we have to work around and always make sure we are staying on the side of being professional.

Educational Requirements - Most nurses go through a 2-year program but in order to be accepted into a nursing program, pre-requisite or co-requisite classes need to be taken. Programs are very competitive and many require A grades in the science classes. Most schools require a familiarity with biology and chemistry prior to taking anatomy & physiology and microbiology. The science classes require a certain level of algebra as well. Psychology and writing classes are also a requirement. You will likely be required to know how to do research style writing as well as technical writing. Nutrition may also be a requirement. Once in nursing school, you might be taking a pharmacology class to learn about drugs, how they work, how they interact, and serious side effects. You will likely get a class on nursing fundamentals and philosophy. Medical-surgical nursing that may include pathophysiology of diseases will be part of nursing classes as will specialized areas such as geriatrics, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynocology. You will learn certain nursing skills and be observed and tested on your ability to remember the steps of each skill and your hand-eye coordination. All nursing schools require a certain number of clinical hours that can be performed in a hospital, LTC, medical clinic, and other places.

Are nurses limited to hospitals and doctors offices? Nope, there are school nurses, parish nurses, nurses who work in long term care and rehabilitation, psychiatric wards, prisons.... it goes on and on.

Most people I talk to hold nurses in high regards. You'll always find one person with a nurse horror story but most people who've been patients in my area tend to respect nurses.