Nature of Job:
Nurses are responsible for safety, treatment and recovery of ill and injured people, health maintenance and treatment of life-threatening emergencies in various health care situations. They may also be engage in research and sometimes practice non-clinical duties for delivery of health care.
Basic Tasks:
- Basically, nurses take care and treat ill, injured, and disabled patients, as well as newborn babies and their mothers.
- Assist surgeons during operations take charge of nursing works and other non-medical staff in operating theater.
- In-charge with the medicine and drugs, apply surgical dressings and give other forms of treatment prescribed by physicians;
- Keep records and reports accurate and detailed;
- Help in preparing mentally-ill patients, physical and psychological, for treatment;
- Take care of patients in their homes;
- Render nursing services, care and advice in a community; industrial and other organizations; and/or at workplace;
- May engage in research activities related to nursing.
Education and Training Requirements:
Must have a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and holds a license to practice the profession.
Skills and Competency Requirements:
- Can relay information effectively;
- Excellent reading comprehension;
- Logistic reasoning which is use in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems;
- Analytical skills;
- Can communicate well both oral and writing
- Sensitivity, the ability to tell whether there’s something wrong or might go wrong.
Work Environment:
Clinics and Hospitals
Working Hours:
Nurses work for 8 hours but it depends to the call of their duty.
Career Advancement:
There are several distinct levels of the nursing career structure distinguished by increasing education, responsibility, and skills. Advanced practice nursing which involves diagnosis of health problems and prescription of medication and other therapies is the next career move for a professional nurse. These are the clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners who have acquired a PhD and have gained specialization in clinical nursing, research, health policy, teaching, and consultancy.
Employment Opportunities:
Except in hospitals, clinics and other establishments, nurses can also work in the emerging local job market for them such as:
- Medical Tourism
- Medical Transcription
- Rural Health Centers
- Day Care Centers
- Alternative Health Care Delivery System
- Home health care
- Long-term care facilities for the elderly
- Independent nurse practice
- Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
Demand for nurses in global job market is continuously increasing particularly in the First World Countries such as