Nursing is a unique profession concerned with all variables affecting clients in their environment. Nursing actions are initiated to best retain, attain, and maintain optimal client health or wellness using the three preventions (primary, secondary, tertiary) as interventions to keep the system stable.
The definition of nursing is continually evolving. In today's society, consumers of healthcare want quality service and are collaborators in their care. So what is nursing to me? Nursing is having the ability to change in response to the evolution of healthcare consumers needs. Nursing is a profession in which individuality, beliefs and values, and life experiences all contribute to performance. Nursing is not only understanding, but utilizing numerous nursing and non-nursing theories, state nurse practice acts, and the Code of Ethics for Nurses. Nursing is communicating and collaborating with clients, families, and team members to provide excellent care. Nursing is listening and looking carefully during each client encounter. Nursing is striving to impart knowledge and guidance simultaneously to achieve the following: retaining health, regaining health, or eradicating, managing, or minimizing poor health. Nursing is a combination of values, skills, ethical responsibilities, and the application of a specialized body of knowledge, all applied using a holistic approach. It is important to remember that no single definition holds true for all nurses. "Trying to capture the meaning accurately is perhaps almost as difficult as trying to define love because it is interpreted in many ways (Manhart Barrett, 2002, p. 51)."
As they say, nursing is not just a profession, it is a mission; not just a means of living, but a means of making others live.
Many people have not yet seen the real value of nursing. For some, it is a simple task of assisting the doctor, attending to the sick people, and making these people feel better. However, not everyone knows that nursing is...