One of the first people a patient sees is the nurse. They are everywhere in the hospital taking records, escorting patients. handling, medication and being an overall friendly face in the time of health trouble.
At least one hospital organization has recognized the importance of nurses in the health care industry. A recent study by groups like Kaiser has seen their value and has invested heavily in the nursing aspect of health care.
The Kaiser example is something to copy as nurses are the key to hospital success.
The Duties of a Nurse
When making such a bold statement that nurses are the key to a hospital’s success, it is important to analyze the duties they must perform. Everyone knows about their handing out medication, taking vital statistics, and pushing the wheelchair when a recovered patient leaves their hospital but there is more to a nurse and their responsibilities than meets the eye.
#1. They keep an eye on the patients
Not to keep the patient in their rooms but to spot any irregularities that may come up during the doctor’s absence. They need to know what symptoms to look out for and be ready to identify any change n those symptoms that may lead to a deeper problem.
#2. They make care decisions
When test results are in, they look at those results and make decisions on how the care of the patient will proceed. Those decisions are communicated to the nurses on other shifts as well as have suggestions for the doctor.
#3. Nurses educate the patients
As well as their families. Some nurses see this as being teachers to the families of patients letting them know about the disease or ailment. This information is important as the patients’ needs and care does not stop at the hospital door. Their family has to take over for the nurses.
#4. Nurses care about everyone
In this situation, the patients’ families are also cared for by the nurse. The family members have to battle their own emotions and the nurse expands her care to them helping them through a difficult time. At times they become necessary listening posts as the family members express their views and feelings.
#5. The nurse builds trust
Whether it is a young child or an older patient, the nurse is the person that helps clams the fears of the patient making medical treatment easier for the doctor and themselves. This trust building helps break down any barriers that come when a patient is scared.
The Education of the Nurse
Part of the success of the hospital is due to the ongoing education nurses have to take in order to provide top health care and meet the responsibilities their position requires them to fulfill.
While almost all nurses start with an R.N., some start with an L.P.N., or a BSC in Nursing, they are continually upgrading their education to make sure their patients receive the best care possible.
Different specialties require different knowledge and without the nurses holding that knowledge the hospital would not be able to provide the great level of care they are expected to have. Since all areas of health care need nurses, continuing education is a part of the nurses’ life.
There are many schools that offer a wide variety of training and education in those medical areas the basic degrees do not cover. The work can be done full time or part time while the nurse earns the money to pay their tuition.
If the nurse is serious about making nursing her life’s work, she or he has ample opportunities to pick and choose the medical area they want to focus their careers. It is this desire that helps make the nurse a vital part of any hospital’s success.
Kaiser has many nurses with bachelor's degrees as well as other levels of education that make their nurses more valuable to both the hospital and the patients. The more the nurse knows, the better level of care they can provide.
The Training of Nurses
Like education, the training the nurse gets is usually at a very high level. There are different programs that offer a variety amount of training including a re-entry program.
The re-entry program helps those former nurses get up to date in current medical knowledge and nurse practices. In other words, nurses are not being left behind but being given a helping hand to make sure they know what they need to know in order to provide top health care.
This investment in nurses helps hospitals to be a success. The nurses on their staff are not behind the times or inadequately trained or lacking in care knowledge but well trained and educated employees ready to provide the best when called upon.
When a hospital has an up to date and well trained staff, their medical care goes up and is seen as a success. Without these programs and training, the hospital is seen in a far different light.
The Nurse is the Backbone of the Industry
This is one of the main reasons why a nurse is vital to a hospital’s success. Without nurses, the doctors would be overworked and be making a lot of mistakes due to fatigue and other issues.
While there would still be health care it would not be at the levels it is now with the over 3,000,000 nurses working in different hospitals. Plus, with its status of being one of the most trusted professions, hospitals have a better success rate than if they did not make a good investment in their nursing staff.
Nurses make the difference. Even if they only have basic training and education, their contribution to the care of the patient is immense and relieves the hard working doctor of duties that keep him from treating another patient. Even an R.N. or an L.P.N. makes a great contribution and puts a friendly face on the medical profession.
Their care helps patients relax making treatment easier and better. without these medical professionals, the world and the nation would look a lot different. Hospitals may not function without nurses as the many lawsuits would hamper medical care.
That may seem extreme but when a hospital is negligent, it does influence the type of care a patient receives and the success level of the hospital. Nurses help alleviate that problem in an indirect way.
With nurses trusted more than doctors, they become a very important link between the patient and the attending physician. Without that link, medical care would also be a lot different as the patient does not trust the doctors that much.
The nurse is the life blood of the hospital. Without them, the medical profession would not be as lucrative or as successful. More patients would die and more family members would suffer.
Conclusion
It is hard to put a measurement on the contribution the nursing staff makes in any given hospital. Any angle that you examine the success of the hospital, that analysis will always show the nursing staff at the core of the success.
Doctors cannot do without them. Not just to monitor the patients and dispense food as well as medications but to do other vital medical duties that could be fatal if not caught in time. Doctors cannot be present 24 hours a day and they have far too many patients to be able to monitor the patient effectively
Hospitals, in their present form, would not exist and the level of medical care they provide would be inferior to the level being administered now with the aid of the trained and educated nurse.
Nurses are the key to a hospital’s success. The doctor may make the right diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment, but without the aid from the nurse, those treatments may not be administered at all. The fallout from that scenario is something no one wants to think about.
This does not mean that all nurses are perfect. There will be bad apples among the nursing staff but those bad apples do not overshadow the contribution the other nurses make on an hourly basis at any given hospital. Maybe one day those bad apples will al be weeded out and the level of a hospital’s success will rise even more.
