Community health nursing is a unique division of health care in that its focus is on populations rather than individuals. In this way, a nurse develops an awareness of health risks in her clients by assessing those of the community as a whole.
Family health nurses receive specialist education in order to help individuals and families cope with illness, chronic disability or times of stress. They spend a large part of their time working in patients’ homes and with patients’ families. Such nurses give advice on lifestyle and behavioral risk factors, and assist families with health matters. Through prompt detection, they can ensure early treatment of families’ health problems. With their knowledge of public health and social issues and other social agencies, they can identify the effects of socioeconomic factors on families’ health and refer them to the appropriate agency.
Trauma nurses specialize in caring for patients with acute injuries or illnesses, including accidents, assaults, gunshot or stab wounds, and more. They typically work in emergency environments and are charged with stabilizing patients. They also document a patient's care and may work with any law enforcement officers involved.
A nurse-midwife is a licensed healthcare professional who specializes in women’s reproductive health and childbirth. In addition to attending births, they perform annual exams, give counseling, and write prescriptions. The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM); a professional organization representing certified midwives (CMs) and certified nurse-midwives (CNMs); reports that 53.3% of CMs/CNMs identify reproductive care as their main responsibility, while 33.1% report that its primary healthcare. While some believe midwives work typically on home births, 94.9% of all CM/CNM-attended births occurred in hospitals and only 2.5% in homes. In 2012, midwives attended 313,846 births in the U.S., a significant increase over the previous year despite a decrease in overall births. Furthermore, while these professionals may operate independently, over 50% of CMs/CNMs list private practices or hospitals as their employers and in all 50 states, Medicaid reimbursement for midwifery is mandatory.
Mental health nursing, also known as psychiatric nursing, is a specialized field of nursing practice that involves the care of individuals with a mental health disorder to help them recover and improve their quality of life.
Mental health nurses have advanced knowledge of the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders that helps them provide specialized care. They typically work alongside other health professionals in a medical team with the aim of providing the optimal clinical outcomes for the patient.
Pain management nurses are RNs who help to provide pain relief to patients experiencing chronic pain due to illness or injury. They employ a wide variety of techniques in order to achieve this, including medications, stress relief techniques, exercise/diet changes, and more. They must constantly assess and reassess patients to make sure they are comfortable and cared for without doing harm to them by over-medicating, etc. Pain management nurses may work in hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation facilities, sports medicine centers, and other places where patients may be seeking pain relief.
Primary health care is the first level of contact that individuals, families and communities have with the healthcare system. In Australia, this:
Grounded in their scope of practice, nurses provide socially appropriate, universally accessible, scientifically sound, first level care. They work independently and interdependently in teams to:
Obstetrics (OB) nurses care for female patients before, during, and after pregnancy and childbirth. They assist an OB/GYN doctor with prenatal checkups, ultrasounds, screenings, and can also help with the child birthing process. In addition to this, they also assist with other women's health issues such as birth control information, cancer screenings, and infertility. They most often work in OB/GYN physician offices, maternity wards in hospitals, or in birthing centers, though they can work in areas such as urgent care as well.
Palliative care nurses provide compassionate nursing care to patients with chronic or terminal illnesses. They help patients with pain and symptom management to ensure that they carry out their final days in comfort. These nurses work in hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and private homes, or wherever a patient requires this type of care. They also often provide emotional support to the patient and their friends/family.
A holistic or complementary health nurse focuses on treating the patient as a whole rather than merely treating individual symptoms. This certified RN takes a mind-body-spirit approach to the practice of professional nursing and may use techniques such as massage, breath work, or Eastern healing methods alongside traditional treatments.
Nurse entrepreneurs use their professional nursing experience and business savvy to launch and run their own business ventures within the healthcare field. Requiring strong business skills, creativity and a lot of hard work, becoming a nurse entrepreneur offers nurses a unique opportunity to take control of their careers, set their own schedule and follow their passions in the nursing field.
Ambulatory Care Nurse, Camp Nurse. Military Nurse, Cardiac Care Nurse, Forensic Nurse, Geriatric Nurse, Infection Control Nurse, Labor and Delivery Nurse, ICU/NICU Nurse, Nephrology Nurse, Nurse Writer, Nurse Executive, and etc.…
Nurses have critical roles and responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will continue to be at the front line of patient care in hospitals and actively involved with evaluation and monitoring in the community. Nurses have to ensure that all patients acquire personalized, high-quality services irrespective of their infectious condition. They will also engage in planning for anticipated COVID-19–related outbreaks, which increase the demand for nursing and healthcare services that might overload systems.
Moreover, nurses must maintain effective supply and usage of sanitation materials and personal protective equipment and offer screening information, confinement guidelines, and triage protocols based on the latest guidance. A global pandemic needs strong nursing staff engagement in clinical management, awareness and knowledge exchange, and public safety.
Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) include nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives, and all play a pivotal role in the future of health care. APRNs are often primary care providers and are at the forefront of providing preventive care services to the public.
APRNs treat and diagnose illnesses, advise the public on health issues, manage chronic disease, and engage in continuous education to remain ahead of any technological, methodological, or other developments in the field. APRNs hold at least a Master’s degree, in addition to the initial nursing education and licensing required for all Registered Nurses (RNs).
APRNs Practice Specialty Roles
Nursing is an excellent career choice for its stability, its variety, as well as how rewarding it is to care for people in all stages of their lives. One of the wonderful things about the career of nursing is that you can choose from an impressive variety of roles and educational levels in order to align with your career aspirations. There are a multitude of paths to becoming a nurse, and all of them are correct.
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse (LPN/LVN), Registered Nurse – AND (Associate), Registered Nurse – BSN (Bachelor’s), Advanced Practice RN (APRN) and Nursing Instructor/ Professor.
Nurses’ responsibilities vary by specialization or unit, but most share more similarities than differences. Nurses provide and monitor patient care, educate patients and family members about health conditions, provide medications and treatments, give emotional support and advice to patients and their family members, and more. They also work with healthy people by providing preventative health care and wellness information.
Nursing Careers
A clinical nurse, sometimes called a "clinical nurse specialist," is a highly educated nurse leader who specializes in a niche practice area. Clinical nurses support the work of other nurses and drive health care innovation within their organization and the wider community. They may also perform traditional nursing duties, including diagnosing and treating patients, but they typically focus on consulting and research.
There are a variety of patient-focused factors that clinical nurses may consider for an area of specialty, including:
In an era of increasing challenges for public health, nurses have the potential to make a dramatic difference. Public health nursing as, "the practice of promoting and protecting the health of populations using knowledge from nursing, social, and public health sciences".
As individuals, nurses directly influence the health and wellbeing of patients every day. Through frequent contact, nurses are best placed to encourage lifestyle changes in communities and offer education on healthy living – particularly to the most vulnerable in society.
Uniting to improve public health
By working together, nurses can make a great impact on public health as a whole.
Nursing Leadership:
Nursing leadership is the practice of leading initiatives that improve nursing practices and outcomes. Nurse leaders rely on their ability to motivate and inspire nursing teams and staff in the development of high-quality practices and patient care methodologies. These professionals usually work in higher-level nursing and leadership roles and take a less hands-on approach to nursing than nursing managers do.
For instance, a nurse leader responsible for overseeing and executing new care policies will focus on strategic planning and collaborating with nursing staff, while a nurse manager will focus on carrying out the initiative and managing nursing teams and departments in implementing care strategies with patients.
Nurse Management:
Nurse management is the process of directing teams and nursing departments to maintain best practices and organization when providing care to patients. Nurse Managers direct the daily processes and routines of the medical facility they work in, and they instruct nursing staff through hands-on approaches to ensure the efficacy of patient care and treatment plans.
Nurse Managers are responsible for overseeing hiring, staffing and performance reviews for their teams. Nursing management roles rely on leadership skills, but nurse managers continue to work directly with patients and nursing teams to carry out incentives that nursing leaders introduce.
A nurse attorney is trained as both a registered nurse and an attorney. This means that both a nursing degree and law degree are required. Nurse attorneys may work in either legal or medical settings doing things like reviewing medical records for insurance companies, working with risk management departments in hospitals to ensure that healthcare policies are followed, or lobbying for healthcare organizations.
Legal nurse consultants are highly educated RNs who work as experts on cases involving medical issues. They can work in law offices, government agencies, hospitals, and insurance companies. Their duties may include reviewing and summarizing medical records, serving as expert witnesses, investigating patient claims, auditing medical bills, and more.
Telemetry nurses care for patients with heart problems who have moved out of the ICU. They specialize in monitoring the readings of electrocardiogram, or EKG, machines and alerting the doctor to any dangerous changes. They also monitor other vital signs including blood pressure and breathing patterns and may assist the doctor with diagnoses, treatments, or procedures. Telemetry nurses also educate patients on cardiac health and may recommend lifestyle or diet changes to promote a healthy heart.
Telephone triage nurses, also known as telehealth nurses and TTNs, provide care to patients over the phone or via video chat. They are crucial healthcare resources for those who may live far away from a medical facility or need help and advice after-hours. Telephone triage nurses help to assess the patient's medical issue and refer them to the proper line of care, whether that's home care, a physician's or specialist's office, or the emergency room.
Understanding patient safety in nursing is the first step towards reducing the risk of medical errors. Patient safety has been defined as “the prevention of harm to patients”. Others have expanded on this definition, emphasizing the need to promote patient safety through the creation of a care delivery system that focuses on preventing errors and learning from those that occur. A robust, successful patient safety strategy will use evidence-based outcomes to constantly improve patient safety protocols and establish an enduring culture of learning and improvement.
Nurses are a crucial part of any hospital’s efforts to improve patient safety. Nurses have the most direct interaction with patients of any healthcare professional—they consistently monitor patients’ conditions, administer medication, and communicate self-care and discharge information. Because nurses are directly involved with patients on a day-to-day, often hourly level, improving their ability to provide accurate, high-quality care is paramount to the success of any holistic patient safety strategy.
ER or ‘Emergency Room’ nurses are efficient, effective and calm. Their presences and skills are both general – as the Emergency Room admits all kinds of patients with all kinds of trauma – and highly specialized to assess, triage and care for those who have been a victim of a sudden accident or illness. With a varied intake, which depends on the day and sometimes on the hour, the ER nurse is responsible for continuously prioritizing the needs of the patients in the emergency ward in order to ensure everyone remains stable as doctors move to treat, admit, or refer to ancillary care. A leader with a strong ethical sense and calm demeanor, ER nurses have equal parts strong stomach, efficient pace, and assertive personality.
Nurses who specialize in pediatrics devote their knowledge and skills to caring for children from infancy through the late teen years and their families. These specialized nurses usually complete advanced training in pediatrics and collaborate closely with physicians and other health care providers who share their dedication to children’s health.
Like other nurses, pediatric nurses can perform physical examinations, measure vital statistics, take blood and urine samples and order diagnostic tests. Nurses with advanced training can interpret test results to form diagnoses and develop treatment plans.
Perinatal nurses care for women before, during, and after pregnancy, and help both mother and baby for the first few weeks of the newborn's life. They educate patients and families on things like childbirth options, umbilical cord care, and more. Additionally, they screen and assess patients for high-risk pregnancies and perform a multitude of routine pregnancy tests. They may work alongside a physician or nurse midwife during labor as well.
A women’s health nurse practitioner (WHNP) is an educated and experienced nurse practitioner who focuses on offering primary care services to women of all ages. In order to become a WHNP, nurses must first complete an education as a registered nurse, and then go on to advanced studies in order to become a nurse practitioner. It is during these studies that students can choose to specialize in women’s health and go on to complete clinical, hands on experience with female patients.
It is important to note that a women’s health nurse practitioner is different from a certified nurse-midwife (CNM). While CNMs tend to focus on childbearing, from conception to delivery, a WHNP follows the entire lifespan of women’s health and does so most often in a primary care office setting, rather than a hospital or delivery room. Further, while the two paths share some educational similarities, the specializations and post-degree steps will differ: a CNM must now complete an AMCB-accredited, specialized MSN or DNP degree prior to becoming certified as a nurse-midwife, while a WHNP must complete an NCC-accredited, specialized MSN or DNP degree prior to pursuing a license to practice as a nurse practitioner.
Evidence-based nursing is one approach that may enable nurses to manage the explosion of new literature and technology and ultimately may result in improved patient outcomes. Evidence based practice (EBP) "involves an ability to access, summarize, and apply information from the literature to day-to-day clinical problems". Evidence based practice "requires an emphasis on systematic observation and experience and a reliance on the research literature to substantiate nursing decisions." Evidence based practice allows practitioners to meet a daily need for valid information about clinical situations.
Evidence based practice allows nurses to enrich their clinical training and experience with up to date research. With the large amount of research and information that exists in nursing, learning the skills of evidence based practice allows nurses to search for, assess, and apply the literature to their clinical situations.