What is nursing care?

What is Nursing Care?

Nursing care can be defined as the assistance provided by trained nursing specialists under the supervision of registered clinical nurses. These specialists offer nursing care due to its inherent complexity. According to our nursing care definition, it encompasses the care of individuals from diverse communities, families, age groups, and backgrounds, irrespective of their illnesses or races.

Defining Nursing Care

In this article, we will delve deeper into the concept of nursing care and empower you, as a student, to confidently address questions like “What is meant by nursing care?” We will elucidate the types of nursing care, emphasize its significance, provide illustrative examples, and identify its recipients. Should you have any queries, please reach out to our customer support team for assistance.

The Significance of Nursing Care

Why is nursing care important? Often, patients and their families find themselves in vulnerable and stressful situations. This is where nursing care plays a crucial role. Nursing care encompasses various aspects, including:

– Providing emotional support.
– Administering oral care.
– Monitoring the overall performance of patients.
– Assisting with physical exercises.
– Ensuring patient hygiene.
– Tracking fluid intake and output.

Nursing care expedites the healing process, enabling patients to leave the hospital sooner and with fewer complications.

Recipients of Nursing Care

Who benefits from nursing care? Nursing care extends its reach to patients of all age groups, communities, and backgrounds in settings such as hospitals, community homes, nursing homes, as well as their families and caregivers.

The Role of Nursing Care

What role does nursing care play? This is a common question among nursing students. Nursing care involves the responsibilities carried out by registered nurses to aid the ill, prevent illnesses, care for critically ill or incapacitated patients, and promote health. These roles serve to enhance, mobilize, and compensate for deficiencies in self-care abilities.

For terminally ill patients, nursing care offers support during their final moments, providing comfort, pain relief, answers to questions posed by patients or their families, guidance, emotional support, and overall care. Here are some categories of nursing care roles:

1. Patient Education and Support

Nurses must have a thorough understanding of nursing care to ensure patients comprehend their illnesses, medications, treatments, and overall health. This is crucial because many patients continue their treatment at home after leaving the hospital.

Nurses are responsible for explaining the seriousness of illnesses, potential risks, and appropriate responses to patients, caregivers, or families. Before discharge, nurses provide dietary guidance, meal plans, exercise recommendations, and referrals to resources, classes, or services.

2. Patient Advocacy

Nurses act as advocates for patients during the decision-making process, championing their legal, medical, and human rights. They offer emotional support through counseling and therapy, listen to and address patients’ needs, prepare them psychologically for treatment, and provide reassurance.

3. Care Planning

Nurses play a direct role in determining treatment choices for their patients. They assess symptoms, identify potential causes, and make accurate decisions on medication. Physicians and nurse practitioners contribute to final treatment decisions, but nurses, due to their close interaction with patients, monitor vital signs, signs, and symptoms. Thus, nurses significantly impact optimal patient health outcomes.

4. Patient Care

A nurse’s primary role is to prevent illness, attend to the patient’s physical needs, and treat and monitor their health conditions. They continually observe and document relevant patient information to inform treatment plans. Nurses also monitor patient responses to treatments and promptly report emerging issues, especially in emergencies.

Nurses are responsible for vital sign monitoring, conducting diagnostic tests, administering medication, addressing injuries, recording medical histories, conducting regular medical examinations, and admitting and discharging patients based on physician orders. They ensure patient comfort throughout the treatment process and act in the patient’s best interests.

5. Skilled Nursing Care

What is skilled nursing care? It refers to treatment that only a registered nurse can provide in settings such as nursing homes, hospitals, communities for the terminally ill or elderly, and other licensed institutions.

Types of Skilled Nursing Care

Patients diagnosed with conditions like neurological disorders, spinal injuries, brain injuries, cancer, muscular dystrophy, stroke, or motor neuron diseases may require skilled nursing care after hospital discharge. Various types of skilled nursing care in these rehabilitation settings include:

– Occupational therapy: Aiding patients in adapting to physical and social environments through memory training, dressing lessons, or coordinated exercises.
– Wound care: Cleaning, treating, dressing, and managing wounds caused by burns, ostomies, skin ulcers, lacerations, or animal bites.
– Speech therapy: Assisting patients with communication difficulties by teaching alternative communication strategies, such as word games, reading aloud, smiling, and puckering lips.
– Physical therapy: Supporting the elderly and patients affected by illness, disability, or injuries through exercises and movement, while educating them on pain management and general self-care.
– Monitoring vital signs, medical equipment, and injections: Skilled nurses in nursing homes oversee vital signs, such as pulse rates, medical equipment, and administer injections.

Modes of Nursing Care

The organization and delivery of nursing care depend on client population philosophy, nurse staffing, and the structure of the nursing sector. As a nursing student, it’s essential to answer questions about the various modes of nursing care, including the three primary types:

1. Team Nursing:

In this approach, a registered nurse leads a team of nurses responsible for specific patients. Each team member performs tasks within their area of expertise. Effective teamwork is crucial for successful patient care, as a lack of commitment and collaboration may hinder the process.

2. Functional Nursing:

This strategy assigns specific nursing tasks to each staff member. Bedside nurses, treatment nurses, and medication nurses are examples of roles under this system. Functional nursing is efficient as nurses focus on tasks they excel in, facilitating prompt care delivery.

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3. Primary Nursing:

In this model, a primary care nurse attends to her patients throughout their stay in her unit. An associate nurse assists in the primary nurse’s absence, following the primary nurse’s individualized care plan. This approach empowers each nurse staff member with authority and responsibilities within the facility.

Examples of Everyday Nursing Care Activities

What does nursing care entail in everyday practice? Nurses perform various care activities as part of their routine duties. Here are some services nurses offer during their shifts:

– Position Changes:

For patients with limited mobility who spend extended periods in bed, nurses facilitate regular position changes to prevent bedsores.

– Pain Control:

Nurses manage pain by ensuring patients are comfortable and well-rested. They administer scheduled injections and dispense oral medications as needed.

– Cluster Care:

Nurses coordinate family visiting hours and manage patient interactions to maintain an appropriate environment. This includes scheduling caregivers in shifts to ensure effective care delivery.

– Adequate Oral Intake:

Nurses plan and provide meals for patients, ensuring they are well-fed before resting or taking medication.

– Active Listening:

Engaging with patients and attentively listening to their concerns is an essential aspect of nursing care. Patients, especially those without family visits, benefit from having someone to talk to, which can alleviate frustration and provide valuable medical history.

– Fall Prevention:

Nurses assist patients during movements and exercises, particularly for post-surgery recovery or elderly patients. They provide guidance to prevent falls.

Nursing care fosters a healthy nurse-patient relationship by involving patients in treatment decisions, safeguarding their privacy, actively listening to their needs, and addressing them. This trust and openness contribute to formulating effective patient treatment plans. As a nursing student, comprehending the question, “What is nursing care?” is essential, as your career will revolve around providing care to patients.