It is fair to say that the nursing profession has come a long way in the last century. Early pioneers of nursing such as Florence Nightingale laid the foundations for modern nursing with the adoption of comprehensive infection control and sanitizing routines that were instrumental in reducing army hospital mortality rates during the Crimean war. Today, modern nursing encompasses many different disciplines and there is significant scope for nurses to specialize in many different areas of healthcare. Ongoing learning and development is a key part of nursing along with embracing the latest medical technology and clinical practices. In this article, some of the key roles and expectations of the modern nurse will be discussed.
Ongoing Education
All registered nurses need a diverse range of clinical skills and knowledge that allow them to monitor patients effectively, create care plans, and administer medications. Today, there is an expectation that nurses will subscribe to the philosophy of lifelong learning. This is ultimately for the benefit of their patients in providing exceptional clinical care but is also required for career progression. For example, nurses can progress in their careers to become educators and leaders who can use their enhanced knowledge and skills to train and shape the next generations of nursing staff. One way nurses can gain these skills and competencies is to undertake an online nurse educator program from UIndy. This will provide them with the required knowledge and skills to become highly effective educators and will allow them to train nurses to respond to the increasingly complex and rapidly evolving healthcare systems.
Embrace the Latest Technology
High-quality healthcare and innovative technology go hand in hand in today’s world of medicine. There is an expectation and a requirement for nurses to embrace the latest technology in their varied roles and to be competent in its use. When registering patients onto electronic systems, there is an expectancy that nurses will be competent in IT use including word processing, email, online records management, and data entry. Nurses may also need to be familiar with virtual meeting and video conferencing software to enable attendance of MDT meetings and for remote-based training. In addition, there is a wide range of diagnosis and monitoring technology that nurses must be able to use effectively. Some examples include automated IV pumps for the highly accurate administration of medications, portable monitoring systems, smart beds, portable glucometers, and stethoscopes. As technology changes and new medical devices and equipment are utilized in nursing settings, there is an expectation that nursing staff will embrace this technology and quickly gain competency in its use.
Assist with Research
Nurses can play a key role as innovators in modern healthcare and nursing staff who progress in their careers may choose to specialize in various fields of medical research. This can include organizing clinical trials where a research nurse may locate and assess suitable people who can become clinical test subjects. They can also examine a range of medical papers to allow for evidence-based research which broadens the knowledge base of the nursing profession. Nurses may collect, compile, and analyse the research data pulling out key themes and summarising complex clinical information.