Role Of Nurse In Nursing

The nurse in today's society provides different services to the healthcare community. Taylor (2011) lists the common roles of the nurse as follows: communicators, educators, researchers, advocates, collaborators, and caregivers. The communicator role of a nurse involves “effective interpersonal and therapeutic communication skills to establish and maintain helping relationships with patients of all ages in a wide variety of healthcare settings” (Taylor, 2011, pg 11). Patients look to nurses for information and communicate better with them because they are the most hands on role in the healthcare setting. As an educator, the nurse is responsible for assessing and evaluating individualized teaching plans for patients and their families (pg

The nurse is able to support the patient by providing education for self care techniques. Nurse researchers participate in and conduct research to help increase knowledge and improve current standards (pg 11). Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of evidence based practice, is an example of how nursing researchers have influenced patient care needs based on current health care evidence. The nurse is also an advocate who protects the legal rights of the patient making sure they understand and agree with the decisions about their health (pg 11). The collaborator role allows the nurse to work with all of the health care team to provide the best care possible for the patient (pg 11). The caregiver is the main role of the nurse, combining all the nursing responsibilities and duties together. As stated by Taylor (2011) “The provision of care to patients that combines both the art and the science of nursing in meeting physical, emotional, intellectual, social cultural, and spiritual needs”. Using these roles, the nurse is able to treat patients with a variety of problems including those in hostile situations. Sometimes while treating patients or their families, nurses end up in a dangerous workplace

Following a study published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016), workers in health care and social assistance settings are five times more likely to be victims of nonfatal assaults or violent attacks compared to the average worker in other occupations. Examples of healthcare violence can include verbal or physical threats and physical attacks by patients (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). A report done by the American Nurses Association (ANA) found that 43% of nurses and nursing students had been verbally or physically threatened by a patient or a patient’s family member, and 24% had been assaulted (Potera, 2016). These numbers are only taking into consideration for the nurses who do decide to report an assault. Violence is extremely under reported due to lack of a reporting policy, lack of faith in the reporting system, and fear of retaliation (Workplace Violence in Healthcare, 2016). Cultural factors are also a reason as to why underreporting occurs. “Caregivers feel a professional and ethical duty to do no harm to their patients, sometimes putting their own safety and health at risk to help a patient” (Workplace Violence in Healthcare, 2016). The nurse has a responsibility to the patient and will sometimes allow the patient’s bad