NURSE

Comparison of the Role of the Nurse



Comparison of the Role of the Nurse

Introduction

Competent nursing has been central to the care of people with disabilities for many centuries. Up until the nineteenth century, people who were sick or disabled because of old age, mental illness, or physical disability were usually cared for by their families at home. For the poor sick and destitute, institutional care existed in local charitable guest- or poor houses. Professional nursing care by skilled nurses who were paid for their work, either in these institutions or through visiting nursing associations, grew during the nineteenth century. At that time, patterns of living and the provision of health care changed as a result of broader social changes, such as industrialization, urbanization, and changing work and gender relationships (Nelson, 1999). This paper discusses the role of the nurse with that of other carers, professional and non- professional nurses in a concise and comprehensive way. This paper compares the role of the nurse with that of other carers, professional and non- professional. It also analyses the main differences between the role of the nurse with that of other carers, professionals and non- professionals.

Discussion

The quest for extension and expansion of the nursing role has led to some experiments where nurses take the lead in care, in areas such as neonatology, gerontology, hospice care, mental health and rehabilitation. With increasing frequency, nurses are entirely responsible for such services, calling on physicians only when necessary.

Clinics and health stations in developing countries have long known this model. The proven efficiency and cost-effectiveness of nursing development units makes them attractive experiments in a health market which puts high emphasis on value for money in health care. (MacLennan, 2002)

General practitioners increasingly employ nurses who then run their own clinics for certain medical conditions and for routine health checks. Some hospitals have nurse-led minor injuries clinics in accident and emergency departments. Patients and clients frequently state that they either prefer or at least do not mind being attended by nurses. The impression is often that nurses have more time, give more information in accessible language and are more considerate than doctors.

Nurse specialists exist in many hospital departments or clinics; best-known among them are breast-care nurses and stoma (or enterostomal) therapists (specializing in the care of patients with stomas, that is, artificial orifices from the gastrointenstinal or urinary tract). Other specialties are in dietetics, diabetes, lym-phoedema and more generally ...