Introduction	Skills
What do they do?	Job Prospects
Eligibility	Remuneration
Institutes

What do they do?

Some people joke that a trip to the hospital is almost like being on vacation. It’s a chance to lay back and relax as someone else takes care of all of the little duties associated with daily living.


If that’s the case, it is nurses who do most of the work to foster that vacation feeling. Under the supervision of registered nurses and doctors, nurses tirelessly attend to the comfort and well-being of the sick, injured, and disabled in the hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies.


Among their duties are checking blood pressure, pulse and respiration, taking blood and urine samples, and monitoring and recording what patients eat and when. Nurses change bandages, help patients dress and bathe, and observe patients for any changes in their condition or reactions to medications. They treat bedsores, prepare injections, insert catheters, and give alcohol rubs and massages.


In nursing homes, Nurses provide not only routine bedside care but help evaluate resident's needs, develop care plans, and supervise nursing aides. In doctor's offices and clinics, they make appointments, keep records, and perform other clerical duties.


Because they have so much intimate contact with patients and their job is all about bedside care, it is vitally important that Nurses have a good “bedside manner” with a calm, reassuring, empathetic, and pleasant attitude. But this isn’t always easy in this demanding line of work.


Nurses often work nights, weekends, and holidays, since patients need round-the-clock care. They often stand for long periods of time, and must be strong enough to help patients move in bed, stand, and walk. Nurses in nursing homes can work with patients who are irrational, uncooperative, and agitated. It can also be stressful and emotionally draining to work with extremely ill and dying patients and their families. All this means that while Nurses can make a hospital stay feel like a vacation for patients, their job is certainly no vacation for the Nurses themselves.


Specific tasks include:

• Taking and recording temperature, blood pressure, pulse, weight and height
   

• Dressing wounds
   

• Feeding patients
   

• Cleaning and moving patients
   

• Administering prescribed medication when authorized
   

• Observing patients and reporting changes in their condition
   

• Teaching patients good health habits
   

• Sterilizing equipment
   

• Giving enemas and catheterizations
   

• Keeping patient charts
   

• Knowledge of basic computer applications