Nursing

One may have wondered how the doctors at the hospitals and other medical establishments are able to deal with large amounts of injuries and illnesses. The answer is with nurses and technicians. In the up coming years, the "Baby Boomers" will be of retirement age. There will be a large shortage of doctors and nurses leaving an immense job opportunity for all those in the medical workforce. The nursing field will be a promising possible career because of its reputable history, various types of nursing careers and the training and future prospects in the nursing field. One might consider nurses a foundation stone under the building of health care, without it, the building would not be as strong and would most likely fall. Nursing is an important aspect and career to the medical field that is known of today and the medical field that will exist tomorrow.

Nursing has been around quite a bit longer than people might think. The first nursing school ever created was in India about 250 B.C. and only men could enroll because it was thought that only men were "pure" enough. During the Byzantine Empire, or the Middle Ages, nursing was a separate profession and it was common for a man to be paid for nursing care. In 300 A.D., the Parabolani created a hospital to care for those who were affected by the Black Plague (Wilson). The Parabolani was a brotherhood who in the Early Church voluntarily undertook the care of the sick and the burial of the dead. It has been asserted, though without sufficient proof, that the brotherhood was first organized during the great plague in Alexandria in the episcopate of Dionysius the Great, second half of third century. In 1538 a man named John Ciudad founded the order of the brothers of St. John of God or the Brothers of Mercy. He opened a hospital in Grenada, which is a little island in the Caribbean, and asked a group of friends to assist in providing care to the homeless, mentally ill, abandoned children, derelicts, and the crippled. The first American nurse was Friar Juan de Mena. He landed seventy years before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock when his ship wrecked off the south coast of Texas ("History-Men"). The role of men in nursing started to dwindle when women entered the field. In 1901 the Army Nurse Corp was formed and only women could serve as nurses. The U.S. military nursing changed from being predominately male to being exclusively female. Men's role in military nursing didn't return until after the Korean War (Wilson). Along with the rise of men in military nursing, the civilian nursing also rose.

Women were not truly recognized for being nurses until the American Civil War. Approximately two thousand women served as volunteer nurses during the war for both the North and South sides. At first, many men were angered by this new role and felt that it was unlady-like for women to care for naked and enlisted men. As the war raged on, however, and casualties were coming in at ever increasing numbers, the demand for women nurses skyrocketed. Even those doctors who protested so loudly against women being in the operating rooms with them, had to silence themselves. In 1901, women were given the upper hand on nursing in the military due to the formation of Army Nurse Corp. Though there is a very sexist history in nursing, both men and women have come together to help the common man at one of the desperate times of need for nurses.

There are several different types of nursing and this paper is going to go in depth with only the ones that one might find as the most important. The ones that will be written about in this report are LPNs, RN/BSNs, CRNAs, and NPs. These are the ones that are mostly heard about in hospitals and in nursing homes.

One type of nurse is a LPN. An LPN, or Licensed Practical Nurse, is one of the nurses who do not take very long to get licensed. Most LPNs or LVNs, or Licensed Vocational Nurse, provide basic bedside care, as in taking vital signs like blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and respirations. They also prepare and give injections, enemas, monitor catheters, apply dressings, treat bedsores, and give alcohol rubs. They work under the direction of physicians and registered nurses. They are also the ones whom give sponge baths to people. They give directions to nursing assistants and aids ("Licensed"). They usually work in hospitals, nursing homes, and in some private offices.

Another type of nurse is a RN or Registered Nurse. RNs have to go to school for a little longer than LPNs, but are higher up in the chain of command. If an RN gets a four-year degree in Baccalaureate of Science Nursing, he or she would be considered a BSN instead of a RN. He or she does not make anymore money but they are able to expand from this degree much easier. They are advocates and health educators for patients, families, and communities as are all nurses to an extent. When an RN or BSN provides direct patient care, they observe, assess, and record symptoms, reactions, and progress of patients; assist physicians during surgeries, treatments, examinations; administer medications; and assist in convalescence and rehabilitation. RNs constitute the largest health care occupation with 2.3 million jobs ("Registered"). There are several different types of RNs including; office nurses, nursing care facility nurses, home health nurses, public health nurses, occupation health nurses, and head nurses ("Registered"). Three out of five of all the RNs work in hospitals. A CRNA is another different type of nurse. A CRNA or Certified Registered Nurse of Anesthetist is the person who works under an anesthesiologist. CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered: traditional hospital surgical suites, obstetrical delivery rooms, critical access hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, pain management specialists, U.S. Military, Public Health Services, and Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities. CRNAs take care of patients before, during and after surgical or obstetrical procedures. Nurse anesthetists stay with their patients for the entire procedure, constantly monitoring every important body function and individually modifying the anesthetic to ensure maximum safety and comfort. They are a step down from doctors, are paid significantly more than RNs, and also hold a higher responsibility. In order to become a CRNA, you must already be a BSN and have worked in an acute care setting like an emergency room for one year.

Last of all the different types of nurses in this report there are NPs, or Nurse Practitioners. An NP is an RN with advanced education who manages the care of patients in various settings. Nurse practitioners provide both primary care services as well as specialty