RUNNING HEAD: Nursing is unique
Nursing is a Unique Profession
Nursing is a Unique Profession
There are approximately 140,000 nurses employed in Ontario working on the front lines of health care providing essential services for patients. Nurses are there, looking out for the patient’s best interest whether he/she are aware of this or not. The nurse is there during birth, they are there at death or they might be there to comfort the patient in frightening times. The nurse can perform a variety of tasks from administering drugs to the most simple of tasks such as wiping a tear from a patient’s eye. Within the health care team, nurses have a unique contribution to patient care because they act as an advocate, a teacher and personal care giver.
One of the nurse’s unique contributions to the patient care is advocacy. Advocacy can be defined as an integral part of nursing to promote and protect the well-being of the patient by providing rights and information to the patient enabling an informed decision (Vaartio, 2006). The advocate role can be directed to others for the patient instead of directly at the patient such as other health care professions and the family. Nurses should become an advocate at the patients request or expectations but can act as an advocate without consent if that nurse is driven by the patient’s best interest (Vaartio, 2006). The nurse’s role as an advocate is unique because of the level of trust and openness established with the patient which creates a bond. This contributes in the exchange of information both verbally and non-verbally making advocacy crucial to the profession. This nurse-patient relationship also assists in providing insight to make critical decisions for that individual (Vaartio, 2006).
Interest in patient teaching has become more popular because of beliefs that educating patients is an important part of nursing (Waters, 2000). Education in a clinical setting can be defined as “fundamental...