Evolution of Nursing
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Evolution of Nursing
The nursing profession, since time immemorial, has always been about patient care.it, was once a female-dominated profession characterized by a white look through wearing of wearing everything white (dresses, stockings and hats). The female nurses mostly served as assistants to the male doctors; they cleaned after the patients as well as taking care of them. A lot of things have changed over time, and the profession has evolved into highly respected members of the health care teams with highly specialized professionals. Many people agree that nursing is now the backbone of the health sector. The paper discusses how nursing has evolved since I graduated from my original nursing program.
Training
Just like any other career, nursing has educational pathways that a person undergoes before they can become a nurse. They include earning of an associate, bachelors or master’s degree, all of which provide intensive training on science and education based on practice. The training today is different from what nurses had to go through a couple of years back, and most of the changes in training have been brought about by the changing patient needs that have become more complex. Therefore nurses need more skills to help handle the patients better when delivering care. Training of nurses has continued to match the increasing complicated patient needs (Rogers, 2014). The medicine institute in 2010 made a definitive recommendation that 80% of the nurses should at least by 2020 hold a bachelor’s degree and advocated for doubling of the doctorate nurses. The standard has been set by the AACN that indicates that all registered nurses should hold a bachelor’s degree as the minimum training or its equivalent. Colleges and universities have increased the training time for programs to four years. Over time, the registered nurse enrollment to bachelor degree programs have risen by over 80%, and all the states have mandatory licensure at the RN level (Black, 2017). AACN is greatly emphasizing on the progression of academics and is constantly urging nurses to continue their education to postgraduate programs. Nurses now are required to pass the NCLEX administered by NCSBN (NCSBN, 2020).
When I first joined the nursing school, I thought that the nursing degree was enough, and it was the only thing I needed to become a nurse. After graduating and joining the field, I only had one goal in my career, and that was only saving lives from the moment I step in the workplace. My passion has been to see people becoming better through my efforts and contributions since that is what I have always thought that a committed nurse should accomplish.
Responsibilities
Nurses now have a broad scope of responsibilities, and they are not tied to only providing care. Modern nursing is a mix of skill, judgment and knowledge. The current education approach has stretched the nursing duties to provide care, lead in research and health teams and serve as patient advocates. In order to satisfy the growing demand of patients seeking medical care, some nurses now work with doctors to get additional training. As a result, nurses can now help the doctors in diagnosing and treating common illnesses. It had not occurred in me when I was joining my initial school that at any point, I would find myself taking some roles that should be performed by doctors. But the truth of the matter is I have done so many times. I have received some patients, and I have diagnosed and treated them since the doctors were very busy or not around, and since I have worked alongside the doctors for some time, I had the knowledge of what I needed to do. The field of nursing is vigorous, the work is a lot, and there are many other regulations that I have to adhere to as I interact with patients and my coworkers, but that has not changed the passion I had when joining the profession in any way.
References
Black, B. P. (2017). Professional Nursing Concepts and Challenges (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier. ISBN: 9780323431125
NCSBN (2020). Eligibility & Licensure/Registration Requirements. Retrieved from https://www.ncsbn.org/2916.htm
Rogers, J. K. (2014). Reinventing shared leadership to support nursing’s evolving role in healthcare. Nurse Leader, 12(2), 29-43.