“Nursing is a health system profession focused on caring for individuals, families, and communities so that they can achieve, maintain, or regain optimal health and adequate quality of life.”

Nurses may differ from other health professionals in focusing on patient care, training, and scope of practice. They perform various courses with different practice areas and authority levels. Some are part of the health system together with doctors, although others can carry out their work independently or depending on their level of training. Since the postwar period, nursing education has diversified and moved toward more specialised credentials.

The nine roles and functions of the nursing

What exactly does a nurse do? Your answer will probably depend on the experiences you have had in the past. For example, most people think of a nurse as someone who gives an injection in a doctor’s office – or simply as a doctor’s assistant. To go further, the images of nurses in the media do not help much in knowing the breadth of practices in which they carry out their work.

1. Caretaker

As a caregiver, a nurse provides care for their patients in various settings. This includes physical needs, which may consist of total care (doing everything for someone) to help prevent illness. In addition, the nurse maintains the patient’s dignity by providing specialised care.

Therefore, nurses take holistic patient care. Holistic care emphasises that the whole person is greater than the sum of its parts. This means that nurses are also in charge of psychosocial, developmental, cultural and spiritual needs. The caring role includes all the tasks and skills associated with nursing and other elements that make up the person.

2. Decision maker

Another role of nursing is to make decisions, use critical thinking skills, and consider the patient’s objectives and the best alternatives. These necessary thinking skills include counselling the patient, identifying the problem, planning and implementing interventions, and evaluating outcomes.

3. Communicator

 a nurse understands that effective communication techniques can help improve the healthcare environment. However, barriers to effective communication can inhibit the healing process.

The patient must communicate effectively with the patient, family, and other health team members. He is responsible for the written communication or the patient’s talk, which is critical for the continuity of care.

4. Care Manager

The nurse works with other healthcare employees in care management, thus ensuring that patient care is cohesive. He directs and coordinates professional and non-professional care to ensure that the patient’s progress and goals are met.

The nurse is also responsible for the patient from entering the hospital until they are discharged or go home. This may also include supervision of specific tasks around the home. Nurses in the hospital setting are responsible for prioritising and managing the care of multiple patients simultaneously, which adds another dimension to the process.

5. Patient advocate

One of the most critical roles of nurses is to be the patient’s advocate. When a person is sick, he cannot act the same way as when he is well. Nurses’ duties include working on behalf of the patient and supporting her decisions, supporting his best interests at all times. This can help the patient to know that her values ​​are recognised and supported by some workers in the health system.

6. Professor

the nurse also behaves as a teacher; nurses help patients learn about health, its medications, treatments, and processes, as well as deal with the challenges they will face during and after their illness. You should also instruct family members on how to help the patient. In short, it performs functions or tells others what to do when not in the hospital so that patients can easily take care of themselves at home.

7. Counselor

Counselling is helping the patient recognise and cooperate with social or psychological problems such as stress to help improve the development of interpersonal relationships and promote personal growth. Provide emotional, intellectual and psychological support.

8. Research Consumer

Nurses often use research to improve care for their clients. In a clinical area, nurses need:

• Know the process and language used in research
• Be vigilant to issues related to the protection of human rights
• Participate in the identification of relevant problems for research
• Being a discriminating consumer of the results of an investigation

9. Agent of change

The nurse acts as an agent of change when assisting others, such as clients, making the necessary changes in their behaviour. Nurses are also often involved in changing the health care system to help restore a patient’s health. Therefore, knowing how to treat each of those admitted is crucial since an adult will not be treated the same way as a child.