Nursing is much more than providing direct patient care. Nurses serve in a variety of roles centered around positive patient outcomes. Prior to nursing school, I had no idea the diverse roles and opportunities nurses get to experience daily. Nurses participate in roles that involve direct patient care to assisting with transformation of the U.S. healthcare system. This paper will review eight pertinent roles nurses provide for patients and their communities.
Caregiver
Nurses spend more time with patients than any other profession. To achieve positive patient outcomes, it is the caregiver’s responsibility to make sure all needs of a patient are properly addressed. A caregiver is responsible for more than the physical aspects of patient care. Emotional wellness impacts how a patient responds to and recovers from an illness (Positive Emotions and your Health, 2015). The term “caregiver” includes more than the patient; nurses spend time talking with the patient’s family members and acting as a sounding board to assist with the emotional impact the patient’s illness has on the patient’s family.
Advocate
The caregiver role spills over to serving as a patient advocate. When needed, nurses serve as the voice of patients. Due to the rapport nurses establish with their patients, the patients will ask questions of the …show more content…
The focus of the communicator role ties closely with the patient advocate role. The nurse acts as the “middle man” when providing patient care; she communicates with and for the client. Doctors depend upon nurses to provide them with detailed information related to the patient’s progression or deterioration. As related to patient care, non-verbal communication is often more reliable than verbal communication. The amount of time a nurse spends with her patients allows her to be more in tune to the patient’s needs than other members of the healthcare
Caregiver
Nurses spend more time with patients than any other profession. To achieve positive patient outcomes, it is the caregiver’s responsibility to make sure all needs of a patient are properly addressed. A caregiver is responsible for more than the physical aspects of patient care. Emotional wellness impacts how a patient responds to and recovers from an illness (Positive Emotions and your Health, 2015). The term “caregiver” includes more than the patient; nurses spend time talking with the patient’s family members and acting as a sounding board to assist with the emotional impact the patient’s illness has on the patient’s family.
Advocate
The caregiver role spills over to serving as a patient advocate. When needed, nurses serve as the voice of patients. Due to the rapport nurses establish with their patients, the patients will ask questions of the …show more content…
The focus of the communicator role ties closely with the patient advocate role. The nurse acts as the “middle man” when providing patient care; she communicates with and for the client. Doctors depend upon nurses to provide them with detailed information related to the patient’s progression or deterioration. As related to patient care, non-verbal communication is often more reliable than verbal communication. The amount of time a nurse spends with her patients allows her to be more in tune to the patient’s needs than other members of the healthcare