Nursing is one of the noblest professions in modern medicine. But it was not the same always; the profession was considered lowly in old times with the reputation of nurses being drunk and obnoxious. But with time and efforts from people like Florence Nightingale the attitude of society changed towards the profession. Prior to the foundation of modern nursing, such services were run by military and nuns. This seems a proper explanation of nurses being sometimes referred to as “Sisters”, According to the International Council of Nurses “Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people.” Globally, the profession of nursing is criticized for being unfair to the employees as they are stressed, overworked and work for long hours. While nursing has nearly 80 diverse divisions we will discuss some popular and specialist scenarios over here.
Different Kinds Of Nursing
- Out Patient Specialists: These nurses care for patients whose stay in the hospital for less than 24 hours, i.e. they work in the Out-patient departments and some Emergency rooms.
- Anesthesia Specialist: Like the name suggests they provide assistance in providing anesthesia to patients before, during, and after surgery or childbirth.
- Cardiac Care Specialist: These nurses collaborate with other medical staff in assessing, intervening, and implementing nursing care for the cardiac patient.
- Critical Care Specialist: These nurses provide care for patients and families who are experiencing actual or potential life-threatening illness. This includes intensive care and neurological care.
- Emergency Nurses: Emergency nurses assess patients, provide interventions and evaluate care in cases where immediate actions are required without time delay. This is one of the most stressful work conditions in this line of work.
- Forensic Nurses: Forensic nurses provide medical care to victims of crime and collect evidence from the crime scenes. This can be one of the most intricate and interesting streams of nursing. Sometimes forensic nurses also provide medical care to patients within the prison system.
- Geriatric Nurses: Geriatric nurses care for elderly patients in a number of places ranging from the patients home to nursing homes, and hospitals. They have to be prepared for very tough conditions as their patients are often very ill, weak and completely dependent on the nurse.
- Holistic Nursing: Holistic nurses provide medical care for patients while honoring the individual's subjective opinions about health, health beliefs, and values. Nowadays this practice is becoming more and more relevant as people have more trust in different schools of medicine they follow and they find it highly offensive if forced to follow other practices. This includes adding a personalized and individualistic approach to the daily nursing care.
- Case Management Specialist: It includes assessment, planning, facilitation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual's health needs through communication and available resources to promote quality results which are cost effective too.
- Midwives: Midwives are nurses that are specially trained to deal with childbirth and caring for the baby and its mother. The midwife is qualified to deliver babies by themselves unless they require further assistance.
- Military Nurses: Military nurses work in a different scenarios ranging from military bases to the warfronts.
- Nursing Practitioner: Nurse practitioners are those who have obtained their masters degree. They are qualified to prescribe medication, and interpret test results.
- Company Nursing: The Occupational Health Nursing is also called company nurses. They work in offices where they are responsible for improving, protecting, maintaining and restoring the health of employees.
- Pediatric Nurses: Pediatric nurses care for children of all ages and work in all aspects of health care. Pediatric nurses practice in a variety of settings which include hospitals, clinics, schools, and in the home.
- Perioperative Nursing: Perioperative nurses work in operating rooms in specialist hospitals, community and rural hospitals, surgery units and specialized clinics. They often provide post-anesthetic care or total patient care in rural hospitals or specialized units.
- Psychiatric Nursing: Psychiatric nurses provide care for people suffering from psychiatric or mental illnesses. These nurses practice at various locations which include homes, hospitals and institutions.
- Research Nurses: Research nurses perform all types of research to establish a scientific basis for the care of individuals across all ages .They deal with various subjects beginning from management of patients during illness and recovery to the reduction of risks for disease and disability. They thus help in promoting healthier lifestyles and providing overall better health care.
- School Nursing: School nurses are stationed at schools and to assure that the students and faculty of schools are provided proper medical care and other support inside the school itself.
- Agency Nursing: Agency nursing is where a nurse will signs up with an agency and provide them with their work preferences. The agents then contact the nurses when an opportunity arises. This includes jobs like home nursing, specialized nursing and traveling nurses.
- Travel Nursing: This is a variant of agency nursing. These agencies provide nurses to hospitals and other health care facilities in distant places. Travel nurses usually make a very good salary, receive paid housing accommodations, sign-on bonuses, and other excellent benefits.
- Urological Nurses: Urology nurses deal with patients suffering from diseases such as male infertility, male sexual dysfunction, kidney stones, incontinence, and pediatrics. Urology nurses may also participate in such urological surgeries.
- Women's Health Specialists: Women's health nurses work in fields such as gynecology, obstetrics, mammography, reproductive health, and general women's health. These nurses practice in a variety of settings.