The young generation endeavors to build a healthy and high-performance society based on principles of activity, vitality of the body and positivity. According to that and due to the fact of raising unfavorable disasters the popularity rating of starting the career within the healthcare area has been increasing throughout past decades. The many young adults show an interest in life saving and demonstrating their skills to provide the community with well-qualified medical workers such as registered nurses (RN). It is significant to absorb the features of the nursing profession in order to estimate its pros and cons for those who pursue the laudable aim to become a nurse.
Florence Nightingale, who is one of the first nursing performance researcher and founder of the nursing career, emphasized two major points within nursing care - patient care and aftercare. She described patient care as providing a removal of disease consequences and aid administering in order to maintain an appropriate life quality to a patient. As for aftercare, Nightingale concerned it as maintaining a person in those necessary conditions in which diseases could not occur (Gable P., 2014). The Nightingale’s contribution to nursing career development is significant because before her reforms only uneducated women from poor families worked in hospitals. At the middle of 18 century, the absence of necessary health care and incorrect women perception in hospitals led Nightingale to the idea that medical service had to be reorganized in compliance with patient’s needs. She succeeded to prove that after medical interventions injured men needed a constant proper care. Besides, the innovative aftercare nursing methods such as psychological and mental care Nightingale provided had an impact on further nursing career development in Britain and India. In U.S. at the beginning of the 1900s, the historical development of nursing profession was accompanied by including new treatment and pharmacy legal acts and innovative performance of Mary Breckenridge who launched a Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) in 1925 (Keeling, 2015). The major duty of FNS was caring for women in labor and newborns from poor regions in the USA. Breckenridge succeeded to prove the importance of an appropriate education and certification for the improved nursing care and minimization of maternal and infant mortality. In addition, Breckenridge insisted on “medical advisory committee for oversight of the nurses’ practice” which meant the termination of nursing performance without supervision (Keeling, 2015). As the previous examples demonstrate, all of the innovative reforms embed in past influenced on modern nursing practicing.
Nowadays, nursing profession implicates more than health care maintaining, thus, nurses have become a full-fledged member of medical teams. The role of modern nurse cannot be diminished. Various duties that nurses fulfill demand heightened interest to this occupation. Today, the person interested in developing nursing career can prove to be a good worker within more than 100 nursing specialties from ambulatory care nurses to veterans affairs nurses , included in 9 main categories as advance practice, emergency, psychological, clinical, family, surgical, community, management, and women’s health (Explore specialties, n.d.). Each of these categories implies availability of certain degrees and certifications as Nursing diploma, LPN (Licensed practical nurses), RN (Registered nurses), AND/ASN (Associate Degree in Nursing), BS/BSN (Bachelor’s degree in Nursing), MSN (Master’s degree in Nursing), Doctoral, Postgraduate, and Postdoctoral (Explore specialties, n.d.). In order to receive basic and supplementary knowledge about various areas connected with nursing, a person can engage in “a 3-year diploma program typically administered in hospitals, a 3-year associate degree offered at community colleges or the 4-year baccalaureate degree offered at senior colleges and universities” (Rosseter, 2014). It ensures the fulfillment of necessary information about anatomy, physiology, psychology, sociology and cultural background, management, economy, political and law issues etc. According to the Rosseter research (2014), the BSN degree provides more opportunities for the professional nursing development. Highly educated nurses with High School diploma and Bachelor’s degree demonstrate better professional and personality characteristics to treat patients with a complication of the disease. The nurses with solid theoretical and practical background have improved communication, cooperation, time management and stress tolerance skills that are extremely important for maintaining prompt and qualitative medical assistance. Nowadays, BSN-graduated nurses supported by the government, professional nursing organizations and non-profit healthcare foundations (Rosseter, 2014). However, the availability of practical nurses or registered nurses certification is an acceptable base for developing nursing career along with professional opportunities and appropriate financial reward expectancy.
The backbone of the nursing career, especially registered nursing career, has changed appreciably over the time of the process of medical treatment and legislative issues changing. Today, registered nursing specialty is considered as extremely popular among the most needed occupations in U.S (Registered Nurse, n.d.). Figure 1 demonstrates the variety of specialty options for modern registered nurses.
Figure 1. Specialty options for registered nurses (Adapted from Registered Nurse, n.d.).
Within different working areas, nursing is one of the most respected and trusted profession. Nowadays, the number of nurses in U.S. is approximately three million practitioners (JNJDiscoverNursing, 2014). In consideration of the fact that nurses deliver the health care service throughout the whole person’s life from birth to the end of the life, the occupation of registered nurse seems to take a variety of job duties and responsibilities during various shifts. Working in a team or providing medical care without assistance regardless of specialty and department, the key registered nurses’ duties consists in appropriate and professional evaluation of patient’s health state, a prompt reaction on possible health risks, making decisions according to received information, instruction patients, and their families and providing further necessary medical treatment. Beyond that, health care delivery model for RN includes different aspects as helping patients with their complaints, estimating state o health, formulating diagnoses or developing treatment plans etc. In a case of unfavorable conditions, RN has to be prepared for prescribing medications, order the appropriate tests and manipulations and provide primary care. In other words, it is significant for RN to be available 24 hours a day to assist doctors in rescuing patients’ lives and demonstrate own practical knowledge. Besides, registered nurses should demonstrate high cooperation skills in order to build an effective work system with patients, doctors, and stakeholders as pharmacies, different medical departments and organizations. However, it should be noted that modern professional duties are distinguished from earlier accepted responsibilities. Nowadays, nurses act as managers and leaders of health care teams. The role of RN includes more opportunities for career development as a scientist in medical area or developer of innovative treatment methods. Providing direct health care and case management allows establishing effective nursing performances such as “conducting clinical research and teaching in nursing programs or directing complex care system” (Registered Nurse, n.d.).
The work environment and conditions are the significant points that disturb young adults who want to build the registered nursing career. Depending on nursing care category and specialty nurse chose, the pursuance of nurses’ duties provides in healthcare facilities, schools, public places, and community centers or at patients’ home. Every nurse should be prepared for constant walking or standing during day or night shifts along with disturbance, shouts, crying, or stressful and difficult communication with patients and their relatives, and other members of health care teams. They have to practice positive attitude and calm behavior in order to maintain a positive environment for patients that are dependent on nurse’s mood. According to Kieft and colleagues research (2014), nurses should always be in charge of a situation. Practicing prioritization and flexible cooperation with coworkers has a considerable impact on patient’s rapid recovery. Professional registered nurses have to demonstrate solid confidence in their performance regardless of favorable or adverse circumstances. On the other hand, nowadays managers attempt to improve medical working environment and maintain nurses’ securing from harmful consequences of health care delivery. The financial compensation for registered nurses is evaluated from $64,690 a year to $80,000 or more depending on the qualification, education, experience and work environment (Registered Nurse, n.d.).
It is an evidence that nursing profession can be challenging for young people because of a variety of heavy responsibilities, high requirements of available skills and unfavorable work environment; however, the opportunities the profession provides are more valuable. From the possibility of implementation, the laudable aim to rescue people lives to an occurrence of a chance to become a manager, leader, scientist or developer, registered nurse becomes one of the most significant parts of modern health care model.
References
Gable P. (2014). Florence Nightingale's Contributions to Nursing and Medicine. Bright Hub Education. Retrieved from
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-homework-help/114252-florence-nightingales-contributions-to-nursing/
Explore specialties. There are 104 nursing specialities. (n.d). DiscoverNursing. Retrieved from https://www.discovernursing.com/explore-specialties#no-filters
JNJDiscoverNursing (2014). Nurses: Their Vital Role in Transforming Healthcare. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s05qFON5EA
Keeling, A. (2015). Historical Perspectives on an Expanded Role for Nursing. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, Vol. 20. Retrieved from
http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-20-2015/No2-May-2015/Historical-Perspectives-Expanded-Role-Nursing.html
Kieft A. M., Brauer B. B., Francke A. L., & Delnoij D. M. (2014). How nurses and their work environment affect patient experiences of the quality of care: a qualitative study. BMC Healthy Services Research. Retrieved from
http://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6963-14-249
Registered Nurse (RN) (n.d.). ExploreHEALTHcareers.org. Retrieved from http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/career/21/registered_nurse_RN
Rosseter R. J. (2014). The Impact of Education on Nursing Practice. American Association of Colleagues of Nursing. Retrieved from
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/EdImpact.pdf
