Real life examples ; Roles of a nurse

[unknowngenius10]

I'm having a hard time understanding the roles of a nurse. Can anyone explain them to me with real life examples?

This is what I think I understand the roles to be.

Provider of care= nurse uses the nursing process to make decisions.

Manager of care= nurse decides the best possible way to treat a patient.

Member within profession = nurses continue their education and growth .

Is provider of care= assessment and diagnosis ?

Is manager of care= planning and implementation?

I'm so confused. I want to understand this, not memorize it.

[Guest 360983]

Tell me about what you think of when you read provider. Next, tell me what you think of when you read manager. Seriously, write this down before you go futher.

Now think about what you have seen nurses do in clinicals and what you've learned about nursing. What actions match your provider definition? What actions go with your manager description?

I will defer to others on the profession question.

[missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN]

I'm confused by your question. Are you asking what role the nurse is taking when going through ADPIE?

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Roles and Function of a Nurse

1. Caregiver

• The caregiver role has traditionally included those activities that assist the client physically and psychologically while preserving the client’s dignity. Caregiving encompasses the physical, psychosocial, developmental, cultural and spiritual levels.
  

2. Communicator

• Communication is an integral to all nursing roles. Nurses communicate with the client, support persons, other health professionals, and people in the community. In the role of communicator, nurses identify client problems and then communicate these verbally or in writing to other members of the health team. The quality of a nurse’s communication is an important factor in nursing care.
  

3. Teacher

• As a teacher, the nurse helps clients learn about their health and the health care procedures they need to perform to restore or maintain their health. The nurse assesses the client’s learning needs and readiness to learn, sets specific learning goals in conjunction with the client, enacts teaching strategies and measures learning.
  

4. Client advocate

• Client advocate acts to protect the client. In this role the nurse may represent the client’s needs and wishes to other health professionals, such as relaying the client’s wishes for information to the physician. They also assist clients in exercising their rights and help them speak up for themselves.
  

5. Counselor

• Counseling is a process of helping a client to recognize and cope with stressful psychologic or social problems, to developed improved interpersonal relationships, and to promote personal growth. It involves providing emotional, intellectual, and psychologic support.
  

6. Change agent

• The nurse acts as a change agent when assisting others, that is, clients, to make modifications in their own behavior. Nurses also often act to make changes in a system such as clinical care, if it is not helping a client return to health.
  

7. Leader

• A leader influences others to work together to accomplish a specific goal. The leader role can be employed at different levels; individual client, family, groups of clients, colleagues, or the community. Effective leadership is a learned process requiring an understanding of the needs and goals that motivate people, the knowledge to apply the leadership skills, and the interpersonal skills to influence others.
  

8. Manager

• The nurse manages the nursing care of individuals, families, and communities. The nurse-manager also delegates nursing activities to ancillary workers and other nurses, and supervises and evaluates their performance.
  

9. Case manager

• Nurse case managers work with the multidisciplinary health care team to measure the effectiveness of the case management plan and to monitor outcomes.
  

10. Research consumer – nurses often use research to improve client care. In a clinical area nurses need to:

• Have some awareness of the process and language of research
  
• Be sensitive to issues related to protecting the rights of human subjects
  
• Participate in identification of significant researchable problems
  
• Be a discriminating consumer of research findings
  

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/roles-and-functions-of-the-nurse.html#lesson

[unknowngenius10]

Tell me about what you think of when you read provider. Next, tell me what you think of when you read manager. Seriously, write this down before you go futher.

Now think about what you have seen nurses do in clinicals and what you've learned about nursing. What actions match your provider definition? What actions go with your manager description?

I will defer to others on the profession question.

When I think of "provider," I think of a nurse cleaning a patient's wounds.

When I think of "manager," I think of the nurse trhinking how to best clean these wounds.

I have never seen nurses do anything in clinicals b.c I'm a prenursing student. This is why I'm having such a hard time picturing this.

By the way, these are the definitions of these words from my school's nursing handbook.

1. Provider of Care: practicing competently and safely in a variety of health care settings

with clients of diverse socio-cultural identities across the life span. It includes cognitive,

psychomotor and affective abilities which are based in knowledge of health; acute and

chronic health deviations; nutrition; pharmacology; communication; human development;

teaching-learning principles; current technology; humanities; and biological, social, and

behavioral sciences. As provider of care, the associate degree graduate utilizes the

nursing process as a basis for decisions. These decisions are characterized by critical

thinking, clinical competence, accountability, and a commitment to the value of caring.

2. Manager of Care: planning and coordinating care for an individual or group of clients

with health care needs. It includes the knowledge and skills necessary to make

decisions regarding priorities of care, to delegate some aspects of nursing care and

direct others to efficiently use time and resources, and to know when to seek

assistance. Supporting the knowledge is an understanding of the principles of

client-care management, communication and delegation, legal parameters of nursing

practice, and roles and responsibilities of the health care team.

3. Member Within the Profession of Nursing: actively participating within the profession. It

includes understanding ethical standards and the legal framework for practice, the

importance of nursing research; rules and regulations governing the practice of nursing;

roles of the professional organizations, political, economic, and societal forces affecting

practice and lines of authority and communication within the work setting. As a member

within the profession of nursing, the associate degree graduate has a commitment to

professional growth, continuous learning and self-development.

[unknowngenius10]

I'm confused by your question. Are you asking what role the nurse is taking when going through ADPIE?

Well, basically, we have definitions of "roles of a nurse" and I can't understand what they mean or how they apply in real life.

For instance, these are the definitions of "roles of a nurse" according to out school's nursing handbook.

1. Provider of Care: practicing competently and safely in a variety of health care settings

with clients of diverse socio-cultural identities across the life span. It includes cognitive,

psychomotor and affective abilities which are based in knowledge of health; acute and

chronic health deviations; nutrition; pharmacology; communication; human development;

teaching-learning principles; current technology; humanities; and biological, social, and

behavioral sciences. As provider of care, the associate degree graduate utilizes the

nursing process as a basis for decisions. These decisions are characterized by critical

thinking, clinical competence, accountability, and a commitment to the value of caring.

2. Manager of Care: planning and coordinating care for an individual or group of clients

with health care needs. It includes the knowledge and skills necessary to make

decisions regarding priorities of care, to delegate some aspects of nursing care and

direct others to efficiently use time and resources, and to know when to seek

assistance. Supporting the knowledge is an understanding of the principles of

client-care management, communication and delegation, legal parameters of nursing

practice, and roles and responsibilities of the health care team.

.

[unknowngenius10]

Thank you for taking your time to provide me with those definitions; I really appreciate it.

The problem is that my school has their own definitions and I can't seem to make sense of them.

These are the definitions:

1. Provider of Care: practicing competently and safely in a variety of health care settings with clients of diverse socio-cultural identities across the life span. It includes cognitive, psychomotor and affective abilities which are based in knowledge of health; acute and chronic health deviations; nutrition;pharmacology; communication; human development; teaching-learning principles; current technology; humanities; and biological, social, and behavioral sciences.

As provider of care, the associate degree graduate utilizes the nursing process as a basis for decisions. These decisions are characterized by critical thinking, clinical competence, accountability, and a commitment to the value of caring.

2. Manager of Care: planning and coordinating care for an individual or group of clients with health care needs. It includes the knowledge and skills necessary to make decisions regarding priorities of care, to delegate some aspects of nursing care and direct others to efficiently use time and resources, and to know when to seek assistance.

Supporting the knowledge is an understanding of the principles of

client-care management, communication and delegation, legal parameters of

nursing practice, and roles and responsibilities of the health care team.

3. Member Within the Profession of Nursing: actively participating within the profession. It includes understanding ethical standards and the legal framework for practice, the importance of nursing research; rules and regulations governing the practice of nursing; roles of the professional organizations, political, economic, and societal forces affecting practice and lines of authority and communication within the work setting.

As a member within the profession of nursing, the associate degree graduate has a commitment to professional growth, continuous learning and self-development.

Let me know if you can think of any real world examples that can apply to these definitions. Thank you.

[Guest 360983]

That's a fairly tough assignment for a pre nursing student.

When you mention a nurse cleaning wounds as a provider, I think you're on track. To me, providers do stuff. Nurses do a variety of things, from cleaning wounds to assessing patients to administering medications.

To me, managers coordinate work and divide it up. A manager in an office may keep track of the progress of all her subordinate's projects and make sure the projects are done correctly. The manager may decide who does a particular presentation. The manager may make sure two departments work together. Your definition mentions delegation. How and what and to whom do you think nurses delegate? Your definition mentions groups of patients. What do you know about nursing with large groups of patients? A RN in the community or in a skilled nursing facility will have a large group of patients and must utilize different skills than the nurse in the hospital who acts more as a provider.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Thank you for taking your time to provide me with those definitions; I really appreciate it.

The problem is that my school has their own definitions and I can't seem to make sense of them.

These are the definitions:

1. Provider of Care: practicing competently and safely in a variety of health care settings with clients of diverse socio-cultural identities across the life span. It includes cognitive, psychomotor and affective abilities which are based in knowledge of health; acute and chronic health deviations; nutrition;pharmacology; communication; human development; teaching-learning principles; current technology; humanities; and biological, social, and behavioral sciences.

As provider of care, the associate degree graduate utilizes the nursing process as a basis for decisions. These decisions are characterized by critical thinking, clinical competence, accountability, and a commitment to the value of caring.

2. Manager of Care: planning and coordinating care for an individual or group of clients with health care needs. It includes the knowledge and skills necessary to make decisions regarding priorities of care, to delegate some aspects of nursing care and direct others to efficiently use time and resources, and to know when to seek assistance.

Supporting the knowledge is an understanding of the principles of client-care management, communication and delegation, legal parameters of nursing practice, and roles and responsibilities of the health care team.

3. Member Within the Profession of Nursing: actively participating within the profession. It includes understanding ethical standards and the legal framework for practice, the importance of nursing research; rules and regulations governing the practice of nursing; roles of the professional organizations, political, economic, and societal forces affecting practice and lines of authority and communication within the work setting.

As a member within the profession of nursing, the associate degree graduate has a commitment to professional growth, continuous learning and self-development.

Let me know if you can think of any real world examples that can apply to these definitions. Thank you.

I think you are putting the cart before the horse.

1) When you care for a patient you care for them "personally". You don't care for a toddler the same way you treat a teenager. You change how you approach the patient. A teen could care less about Barney but their friends are MAJOR! You take into consideration their religion...for an example if your patient is a Jehovah witness you don't give them blood or blood products. A person who is illiterate cannot read the discharge instructions so you tel them what they need to know.

2) Nurses are governed in their practice by evidence that has been proven to be the "correct" way and the best way. You are also governed by the State Nurse Practice act abut what is legal to do and what is not. You need to KNOW these rules and standards to always provide the best and safest care to patients.

3) Nurses need to remain active in their practice to help it grow and to remind current on what is being improved for the best patient care. Continuing education is big in nursing...to remin current and safe you must engage in education on a regular basis.