When we talk about society and its betterment, we think about social and community work. But while these are important, we often forget about other vital role models of our community, for example, nurses. Sure we know their role in healthcare, but we fail to understand the depth of their work. We think their duties end with their shifts, but they’re doing a lot more for our world in reality. If you have doubts, then look at the following examples of how nurses are playing their part in uplifting society:
- By Looking after the New Families and Helping Them
Nurses, especially midwives and pediatric nurses, work to help new families in their challenging journey to the family hood. While midwives aid in the arrival of newborns globally, pediatric nurses ensure their well-being and health. Likewise, nurses in the nurseries and schools are responsible for these children’s health and look over them in emergencies. Sometimes, nurses point out parental problems and address them to the families to work on such issues. Other times, they listen to the parents and help them understand their child’s needs and concerns. And these duties are not restricted to medicine only. On the contrary, they look at every aspect of their patient’s life and provide optimum and appropriate treatment.
- By Educating People about Medicine
Nurses are an essential part of the healthcare community. By working side by side with different professionals, they gain an unimaginable amount of medical knowledge. When their patients are suffering from any diseases, nurses help their families understand this situation. Likewise, when they are out and about in their everyday life, they teach other people about medicine routinely. From highlighting the importance of vaccines to random checkups of friends, nurses perform medicine all the time. And this doesn’t start when nurses begin working in their professional jobs. Instead, even when they’re students of nursing schools.
Nurses can enhance their careers by studying further. Nurses can choose online dnp programs to upgrade their skills and knowledge and know the latest nursing field trends.
- By Supporting Patients During Treatments
Whenever a patient comes to a hospital, he feels alone no matter how many visitors he gets per day. This loneliness, along with the hospital environment, can easily get on his nerves. As a result, these patients feel anxious and even more fearful about their treatments and diseases. In such circumstances, nurses help them cope up and support them during this difficult situation. Unlike doctors and physicians who visit their patients for rounds and emergencies, nurses spend all their day with them. From doing the regular checkups to making sure the patient is comfortable, nurses perform all the small duties.
Not only that, but when the patient is younger and stubborn, they help them understand the importance of treatments. By doing so, they counsel them and provide them better healthcare. Likewise, when there is an elderly patient, nurses take care of them by assisting them in their routine activities. These small duties might seem ordinary for an average person, but they hold great importance in healthcare. Because the patients are already going through the trauma of their conditions, the nursing staff’s help means a lot. It explains why patients often make good bonds with their attending staff by the end of their stay.
- By Helping the Families Cope Up
Like how patients are left alone during their treatments, their families also go through a challenging time. From staying in the hospital with their loved ones to seeing them in pain, there is a lot they have to face. And just like how nurses help their patients deal with anxiety, they also help their families similarly.
Sometimes, they tell stories about how they looked after another patient with similar symptoms and how they got better. Other times, they explain the patient’s situation to his loved ones and help them understand the treatment plan. But this job is not always easy as they also have to deliver bad news frequently. And even then, they maintain their professionalism and help the families cope up with the misfortune. In a way, nurses become a part of their families and effectively connect with them. And when done correctly, this communication results in speedy recovery of both the patients and their families.
- By Providing Better Healthcare Through a Holistic Approach
While doctors target a patient’s health needs and treat them, nurses use a holistic approach and heal from within. They not only consider the chief complaint of their patient but also look after other problems and queries. Understand it this way, when a patient comes with chest pains and palpitations, a doctor would run tests and give medicine. On the other hand, a nurse will try and counsel the patient to understand the underlying cause. Sometimes, these conditions are not pathological and only psychological, and nurses try to track that cause. By talking to the patient and understanding his routine and problems, a nurse would make sense of why he is sick.
Likewise, a nurse puts all the perspective into account as opposed to only looking at one angle. From a patient’s mental health to his religious beliefs, a nurse learns everything. And later, this information helps the doctors in the diagnosis and treatment plans of the patient. It explains why the attending nurses are always an integral part of the working medical team.
The bottom line
Nurses are a crucial part of our healthcare system. Just like doctors and other professionals, nurses play an essential role in uplifting society. From working with the families to counseling the patients, there are many duties of a devoted nurse. Not only that, but their job doesn’t end with the duty hours as well. Instead, they keep working even when they should rest. And without such responsible workers who keep this industry’s burden on their shoulders, our healthcare system would collapse. And no matter what we do, we can’t deny the role they’re playing to better our society.
