Health Care Occupation
This is any occupation that is affiliated to the health sector. They are those occupations that directly touch on the health of human beings and animals. These includes; professions such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists and veterinary doctors. This paper will focus on one of the professions, nursing, as one of the health care occupations.
Nursing is one of the professions in the health care sector which involves taking care of families, individuals or communities so that they are able maintain or acquire good health (Nightingale, 1992). This entails taking care of people with health problems. It is differentiated from other health care professions due to the way they approach patients, their training and also on the scope of what it is practiced (Nightingale, 1992). They have a wide range of practices but most nurses exercise their care under the observation of physicians, also known as doctors. However, they can be mandated to practice independently depending on the level of training and also on the circumstance.
American Association of nurses defines nursing as the provision of protection and prevention of illness and injury, provision of diagnosis and treatment to ill people. This also involves advocating for care of individuals, families and communities and also populations (Baly, 1977). It therefore gives different roles and responsibilities of nurses. It can be generalized as provision of fundamental health care and also provision of assistance to surgeons and doctors.
The profession requires a bachelors training or an undergraduate training in accredited institutions. A bachelors training takes a minimum of four years (Nightingale, 1992). They are referred to as Associated Science in Nursing degree programs and are offered by community colleges and also nursing schools in collaboration with hospitals. These programs fit those individuals who do not have an interest in pursuing different lines of profession such as administrative or teaching professions. One can also undertake a master in nursing especially for those who want to become administrators in nursing.
Most nurses work in hospitals. They can also work in other health care facilities such as dispensaries, charity organizations and can also work independently. Nurses are mandated to work independently depending on certain factors identified above.
Nursing as a profession has specialties. They allow the trainee to specialize in different areas such as ambulatory care nursing, burn nursing, cardiac nursing, environmental health nursing, infectious disease nursing among others (Camenson, 1995). Each area of specialization depends on what is mostly covered in the given specialty. For example burn nursing deals with burns.
For one to be fully qualified as a nurse, one has to receive a license from the board of nursing. This board regulates the number of people in the profession and also ensures that the candidates meet the required qualifications of a nurse. No one is therefore allowed to practice nursing without receiving a license from the American Nurses Association which is the body mandated to undertake the role of regulating the profession.
For an institution to offer education in nursing, it has to be accredited by the relevant body. Accreditation is the process of authorizing an institution to offer a certain program. In most professions, accreditation is done by the relevant body governing that profession. In America, accreditation is done by the American Nurses Association.
Nurses are remunerated by the organization they are working for. This could either be a government health care facility or a private institution depending on the employer. On average, nurses get $33.23 per hour. The most paid nurse gets $46.46 an hour. The remuneration also depends on the duties assigned to the nurse or on the level of the individual nurse on the career ladder.
Nursing is a promising profession that has many opportunities for those opting to train as nurses. This is because of the high rate of increase on the number of people requiring the services offered by nurses. The practitioners can be employed in hospitals as clinicians, as educators, or as a nurse administrator. They can also be employed in community health based institutions or in other institutions such as schools.
References
Nightingale, F. (1992). Notes on nursing: What it is, and what it is not. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Baly, M. E. (1977). Nursing. London: B.T. Batsford.
Camenson, B. (1995). Nursing. Lincolnwood, Ill., USA: VGM Career Horizons.
