Roles of the Nurse in Health Care

2. By:
Muhammad Baqar
Rn, BScN, MSPH
Unit- 2
Role Of The Nurse in Health Care

3. Nursing
➢ Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused
on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they
may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of
life.
 Registered nurses consider nursing to be a profession similar
to other professions (e.g., accounting, engineering,
pharmacy, law, and medicine)

4. Profession
 A profession is a group (vocational or occupational) that
requires specialized education and intellectual knowledge.
 Is a calling that requires special knowledge, skill and
preparation.

5. Criteria of a Profession
1. The knowledge of the group must be based on technical
and scientific knowledge.
2. The knowledge and competence of members of the group
must be evaluated by a community of peers.
3. The group must have a service orientation and a code of
ethics.
(STARR CRITERION)

6. Characteristics of a Profession
1. Education: It requires a basic liberal foundation and an
extended education of its members.
2. Theory: It has a theoretical body of knowledge leading to
defined skills, abilities, and norms.
3. Service: It provides a specific service.
4. Autonomy: Members of a profession have autonomy in
decision making and practice.
5. Code of Ethics: The profession as a whole has a code of
ethics for practice.

7. Nurse
➢ The term nurse stems from the Latin word nutrix or nutrio,
which means to nourish.
➢ The nurse is a person who has completed a program of
basic, generalized nursing education and is authorized by
the appropriate regulatory authority to practice nursing in
his/her country.

8. Role
 The function assumed or part played by a person or thing in a
particular situation.
 is a set of expected behaviors associated with a person’s
status or position.

9. Roles of the Professional Nurse
1. Caregiver/ Care provider
2. Communicator
3. Teacher
4. Client advocate
5. Counselor
6. Change agent
7. Leader
8. Manager
9. Case Manager
10. Research Consumer

10. Caregiver/ Care provider
 The caregiver role has traditionally included those
activities that assist the client physically and psychologically
while preserving the client’s dignity.

11. Communicator
 Communication is integral to all nursing roles. Nurses
communicate with the client, support persons, other health
professionals, and people in the community .

12. Teacher
 As a teacher, the nurse helps clients learn about
their health and the health care procedures they need to
perform to restore or maintain their health.

13. Client advocate
 A client advocate acts to protect the client. In this role the
nurse may represent the client’s needs and wishes to other
health professionals, such as communicating the client’s
request for information to the physician.

14. Counselor
 Counseling is the process of helping a client to recognize and
cope with stressful psychological or social problems, to
develop improved interpersonal relationships, and to
promote personal growth.

15. Change agent
 Change agent means the person who helps or facilitates in
bringing positive change in any area related to health.
 Nurse also plays the role of change agent. She has to play a
vital role in bringing improvement in health aspect of people
in individual, family and community level.

16. Leader
 A leader influences others to work together to
accomplish a specific goal.The leader role can be
employed at different levels:
 individual client, family, groups of clients, colleagues, or the
community.

17. Manager
 The nurse manages the nursing care of individuals, families,
and communities.
 The nurse manager also delegates nursing activities to
ancillary workers and other nurses, and supervises and
evaluates their performance.

18. Case Manager
 Nurse case managers work with the multidisciplinary health
care team to measure the effectiveness of the case
management plan and to monitor outcomes.

19. Research Consumer
 Applying evidence-based practice to provide the most
appropriate care, to identify clinical problems that demand
research, and to protect the rights of research subjects.

20. Expanded Career Roles for Nurses
1. Nurse Practitioner
2. Clinical Nurse Specialists
3. NurseAnesthetist
4. Nurse-midwife
5. Nurse Researcher
6. NurseAdministrator
7. Nurse Educator
8. Nurse Entrepreneur
9. Forensic Nurse

21. Nurse Practitioner
 A nurse who has an advanced education and is a graduate of a
nurse practitioner program
Such as:
o Adult nurse practitioner
o family nurse practitioner
o School nurse practitioner
o Pediatric nurse practitioner

22. Clinical Nurse Specialists
 A nurse who has an advanced degree or expertise and is
considered to be an expert in a specialized area of practice.
(e.g., gerontology, oncology, )

23. Nurse Anesthetist
 A nurse who has completed advanced education in an
accredited program in anesthesiology.

24. Nurse-midwife
 An RN who has completed a program in midwifery and is
certified by the regulatory authority to practice nursing in
his/her country.

25. Nurse Researcher
 Nurse researchers investigate nursing problems to improve
nursing care and to refine and expand nursing knowledge.

26. Nurse Administrator
 The nurse administrator manages client care, including the
delivery of nursing services.
 Head nurse
 Supervisor,
 Director of nursing services etc

27. Nurse Educator
 The nurse educator usually has a baccalaureate degree or
more expertise in a particular area of practice.
 The nurse educator is responsible for classroom and often
clinical teaching.There is now a process to become a
Certified Nurse Educator (CNE).

28. Nurse Entrepreneur
 A nurse who usually has an advanced degree and manages a
health-related business.
Example:
 The nurse may be involved in education, consultation, or
research.

29. Forensic Nurse
 The forensic nurse provides direct services to individual
clients, consultation services to nursing, medical, and law
related agencies, and expert court testimony in areas dealing
with :
 Trauma /or questioned death investigative processes,
 Adequacy of services delivery, and
 Specialized diagnoses of specific conditions as related to
nursing.
(International Association of Forensic Nurses, 2006)

30. Responsibilities of Nurse
Nurses have four fundamental responsibilities as under:
1. To promote health
2. To prevent illness
3. To restore health and
4. To improve suffering the need for nursing is universal .

31. Characteristics of Nurses
1. Being Responsible
2. Being Honest
3. Being Caring
4. Being Organized

32. Professional Appearance and Behavior
Manner during your nursing education and in your nursing
career:
✓ Shower or Bathe andApply Deodorant Daily
✓ Keep hair clean and styled appropriately.
✓ Wear clean undergarments.
✓ Wear a clean scrub suit or uniform that fits well, without
tears or wrinkles.

33. Professional Appearance and Behavior
✓ Wear shoes that are clean and in good condition with clean
shoelaces.
✓ Cover any visible tattoo, body part etc.
✓ Remove jewelry
✓ Keep fingernails short and clean; this helps prevent
scratching patients or injury to self.

34. Professional Behavior
✓ Arrive on time, prepared to work.
✓ Complete assigned care during your shift.
 If you are unable to do so, ask for help.
 If you are caught up on your assignment, offer to help
someone who is behind.
✓ Give comprehensive care with no shortcuts that compromise
patient safety or comfort.

35. Professional Behavior
✓ Take breaks on time and return on time so that others can go
at their assigned times.
✓ Leave the unit only after you have ensured that another
nurse is aware that you are gone and will be responsible for
your patients while you are gone.
✓ Assume responsibility for other nurses’ patients when they
leave the unit.

36. Professional Behavior
✓ Be kind and supportive of other nurses and health-care
professionals.
✓ Avoid criticizing the mistakes of others, since you will
undoubtedly make mistakes too.
✓ Look for the positives in people patients, family members,
coworkers, and supervisors.

37. Fields and Opportunities in Nursing
 Hospital/Institutional Nursing
 Public Health Nursing/Community Health Nursing
 Private Duty/special Duty Nurse
 Industrial/Occupational Nursing
 Nursing Education
 Military Nurse
 Clinic Nurse
 Independent Nursing Practice

38. Conclusion
 Nursing is caring profession.
 Nurses function in a variety of roles when working with
clients.
 The roles extend beyond and have specific responsibilities.
 ProfessionalAppearance and Behavior are essential for nurses
during nursing education and in nursing career .
 There is a wide range of fields and Opportunities in Nursing
.