The Professional Role of a Registered Nurse in Today’s Healthcare System

Running head: The professional role of a registered nurse 1
The Professional Role of a Registered Nurse in Today’s Healthcare System.
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The professional role of a registered nurse 2
The role of nurses in the healthcare system has had several changes over the years.
However, caring for patients has remained one of the integral roles of a registered nurse in any
healthcare system. The role of nurses initially had a technical outlook but the outlook has
continually shifted to being more inclusive of artistic skills which include critical thinking,
decisional making and psychosocial support to patients. This paper focuses on the professional
roles of nurses in a healthcare system.
One of the major roles of nurses is ensuring patient safety. This is made possible by the
fact that nurses spend most of the time around the patient. Nurses are also the primary care givers
to patients. Nurses therefore see to it that patients are safe from external threats, falls and
fractures that may arise from the various conditions they are having and the nature of their
wards. Nurses also see to it that patients get the necessary medication and in time and all other
needs that they require to give them a comfortable time in the ward. Nurses also ought to be
paranoid to identify any side effects of drugs and recommend other drugs to solve the issues.in
addition, nurses are also required to co-ordinate with other care providers in providing care to the
patient.
Wilkinson, et al (2016) explains that nurses also assume leadership roles in the healthcare
system. In order to fortify the role of leadership in a healthcare system, nursing curriculum has
been revised to include lessons on leadership in a healthcare system. Nursing requirements and
education qualifications are also slowly adapting in order to strengthen the role of nurses in a
healthcare system. With increased technology, nursing leadership roles have also included giving
instruction on the use, care and maintenance of various appliances. Nurses instruct patients on
how they can use technology to monitor various processes in the body such as diet, blood
glucose levels and blood pressure among others.

The professional role of a registered nurse 3
Promoting quality standards in the hospital is also a role of the registered nurse. While
other health officers focus on leadership roles. Nurses work on the ground to ensure that these
leadership roles are implemented for the good of the patients. The nurse also ensure quality
standards in all aspects of healthcare such as the quality of services the patients receive, the
hygiene and sanitation levels in the wards and the toilets. The quality of interaction between the
patients and health workers is also regulated by the nurses since they are concerned with most of
the technical roles and psycho social support that is given to the patients (Phillips, et al 2016).
Nurses also undertake the role of advocacy in the health sector. The fact that nurses
interact with patients more than other health workers, they are able to understand what patients’
needs are and what they go through. Nurses report cases of abuse and mistreatment of the
patients, they are also able to assess and repot any risks of conditions that may threaten the life of
patients. Nurses take into account the social economic status of the patients and therefore
advocate on the possible alterations in the overall cost of medication the patient receives. It is
therefore necessary to include nurses in the formulation of policies that regard patients and in
order to highlight places where the policies may be inappropriate.
Wilkinson, et al (2016) argues that nurses provide quite a wide range of specialized care
services in the hospital. The roles are distributed in the various areas such as the emergency
department, in the surgery rooms, in the wards, the renal unit, in the maternity and palliative care
departments among other departments. In all these departments, the nature of special care
services keep changing depending on the roles. For instance, in the surgery rooms and the
maternity, nurses provide anesthesia to patients who are undergoing operation. In certain cases
nurses also diagnose and treat various diseases and also identify the co-morbidities of disease to
reduce risk factors and further infection to the patients.