Many people when they hear the word nurse just think of someone in a hospital who wears a white gown and helps the doctor. But you might wish you understood more!
First, you need to understand some acronyms and labels that relate to this profession. RN is for registered nurse.
Then there are other nurses that fall into the following categories: practitioners, heads or supervisors, licensed practical ones (LPNs), nursing homes, health emphasis, and aides.
Continue reading and you will learn more about each one of these areas and the responsibilities required therein. Learning about the many duties will broaden your understanding of what people in this profession are required to do.
The RN is the biggest category for doctor's aides and these professionals. In this category, you would work more closely with individual patients.
Interestingly enough, the RN usually sees problems with the patient long before the doctor does simply because he/she has more direct contact with the sick ones.
Some things that someone in this job must do include: tracking and monitoring of the patients' vital signs, procedures with placing the IV, phlebotomy, and giving medication.
A practitioner has slightly different job responsibilities. A practitioner is primarily a care giver, meaning he or she can diagnose and treat injuries, sicknesses, etc.
Also, the cool thing is that these practitioners can prescribe the necessary pharmaceutical drugs or medicines the ill or injured may need. In this sense, practitioners and physicians are much alike; they can both write prescriptions.
If these people receive more training and specialization, they can do more things such as: anesthesiology, midwifery, and various clinical duties. To become a practitioner, requires a lot of education: first a BSN (Bachelors of Science, in nursing of course), and then extra training, which could include a Masters degree.
Next in the list, there are supervisors or heads, which do just that! The supervisors are in charge of a team of nurses who they set up schedules for, train if necessary, and ensure proper documentation and recording.
An LPN's job responsibilities include the following: reports to the RN or physician, take vitals, monitoring volumes (in-and-out), dress wounds, bathe, dress, and even give enemas.
In a nursing home, health personnel are needed to care for these in-house residents. The patients may suffer from many things, including fractures and Alzheimer's diseases. You may have a grandparent in one of these homes and therefore, you might feel very grateful to these trained, caring personnel.
Next, there is a very important and caring category. This is the category of those who come into homes and give aid to those who need it there.
Home Health specialized workers go into homes and help the family and the patient know how to best care for the health issues in the home environment. These nurses can be caregivers for people who are striving to get better after any of the following: illness, accident, cancer, and birth of a child.
Finally, may want to know more about aides and assistants, which you may have heard call geriatric aides. These people are unlicensed, and therefore, have less extensive and elaborate responsibilities.
These people do just as their title might explain. They give aid to and assist the rest of the health and medical staff by doing simple tasks, such as: answer bells, give meals, make beds, and help feed patients, dress, and bathe.
Sometimes these geriatric people also help patients with skin care, temperature taking, and also taking pulse, respiration, and the pressure of the blood. These people also have responsibilities to help the ill or injured move around.
These unlicensed personnel help people walk and move in and out of bed. Also, if the patient needs to move from room to room, geriatric people can be the ones to help with this.
It seems these nursing aides have both an advantage and disadvantage. Advantage: they get to interact with and observe trained personnel in order to pick up tips and skills without actually going through the training.
Disadvantage: they probably get paid less than those who are trained and may not be treated with as much respect or credibility. This can happen although they may learn how to do many of the same procedures as the trained health professionals simply by watching or getting a little experience here and there.
Now you know a little more about the different categories of health professionals out there. Maybe you now want to become one of them!
Author Resource:-
Tom Selwick has worked as a traveling nurse for the last 16 years. He has worked in many local clinics and the ER and recommends looking into becoming a travel nursing.
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