I am sure that I was not alone in having a traditional view of the role of the nurse in the healthcare sector at the beginning of the semester; while the role of the nurse as the primary caregiver in the hospital is still relevant, the overall docket of the nurse has continued to expand over the years.
At the beginning of the semester, in my mind, the nurse worked primary and was restricted to the day to day operations of the health sector; however, over time I have come to appreciate that healthcare involves more than just caring for the sick in the hospital; indeed, a lot of what happens in the hospital is dictated by events happening outside the precincts.
For example, even the list of the patients to who the nurse is attending on a particular day is determined by several issues inside and outside the healthcare sector including the socioeconomic status of the community and their purchasing power. If the hospital is for example a for-profit firm, then it would have no choice but to turn away any person without health insurance.
Being part of the first line of defense in regards to the health of the country, the nurse holds a major stake in the industry; and is intimately affected by any events that might affect the sector. Right now, the economic downturn is affecting every sector in the country, and indeed the world. As people lose their jobs and their home, more and more people are losing their ability to afford medical care.
As an individual, I have learned that I have a role in mitigating this condition. As mentioned before, the nurse forms the face of any medical facility and is a major point of interaction between the public and the medical profession. The best way to mitigate a scenario where people cannot afford healthcare is to prevent people from getting sick in the first place; the nurse can play a central role in this effort by educating as many people as possible about healthy living.
Today among the factors that are weighing down the healthcare sector with rapidly expanding costs is that of preventable and non-infectious diseases such as obesity (and its co-morbidities like diabetes mellitus and heart disease) and drug use. A concerted effort in the nursing fraternity to dispense as much information as possible to all the patients about the prevention of these diseases I believe can reduce significantly the load that our healthcare sector is currently carrying.
If the nursing fraternity formulated a comprehensive policy to educate the populace that would involve not only counseling patients coming to the healthcare facility but also going out to the community and holding educational sessions with individuals and groups, then the general health of the population is bound to improve.
Many of my classmates and some of my teachers have expressed enthusiasm about the development of a new role of an educationist for the community. I have to admit that my interaction with them has played a major role in my ability to see the nurse in a new light; that is not restricted to the hospital.
Indeed, health education is not the only sector that the nurse can spread the influence; nurses can also easily evolve into managers in the system. Simply put, the role of the nurse has the potential for unlimited expansion.