Trends and requirements in Nursing

Essay by perrywinkle25 January 2009

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Nurses are the backbone of our Health Care System. Caring for the sick is only one of the various duties that nurses perform every day. Today, nurses work in areas of Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and they support patients and their families cope with illness and emergencies. Nursing is not just a job, it's a profession. A profession is any occupation in which you need specialised knowledge and training. It's usually applied to occupations that involve a formal qualification. Nursing combines a set of skills that include; flexibility, creativity, communication and knowledge that is learnt at University. With trends and requirements of nursing evolving so rapidly this essay will identify the importance of these skills in the nursing profession.

Graduation is an important milestone for nursing students, as it is the beginning of a new career after years of theory in the field of nursing. After graduation, job hunting is a daunting task, but having such skills as flexibility, creativity, communication and knowledge will give job hunters an advantage.

Trends in the nursing profession include the implementation of new technologies, new treatments and new drugs into patient care; the growing trend of diseases carried from one nation to another; the aging of the nursing work force and lastly nursing shortages.

Being flexible ensures you're capable of working with others. These may include other nurses, doctors, specialists and administration workers. Smooth working relationships between doctors and nurses are a prerequisite for efficient delivery of health care. Nurses need to interact with others in order to establish a working team.

Being adaptable enables nurses to adjust their role appropriately to each situation and each patient (Zerwehh & Claorn, 2000). Nurses will be exposed to different challenges and demands on a daily basis, and being adaptable will result in a positive outcome. Being...