Fundamentals of Nursing Course

Nursing Fundamentals

Nurses have many roles. A nurse may be an assistant to a medical specialist or part of the surgical team of doctors on their way to an operation. But nurses have specific duties to perform, not just mere assistants. You could at least point out five of those roles a nurse has to perform on a daily basis. The fundamentals of nursing could be as complicated as its demanding work at times, but the results are always rewarding.

Assessing a Patient
As soon as the patient is housed inside the hospital, a nurse almost immediately has to perform an assessment to the patient. This initial assessment might prove valuable later on, particularly with performing a diagnosis.

Diagnosis
Nurses, after conducting an initial assessment, could perform a simple diagnosis to their patients. A nurse might want to interview the patient further and diagnose the patient properly.

Nursing Care
Immediately after giving a simple diagnosis, a nurse has to devise a plan on how to take care of the patient. That plan though is in keeping with the assessment and its corresponding diagnosis.

Medical Intervention
If a patient is in need of further diagnosis, a nurse might be able use the services of a doctor. This will assure the patient that the initial medical attention has its confirmation with another medical staffer.

To Recap
After doing the necessary assessment and diagnosis, and providing initial medication to the patient, a nurse has the responsibility to evaluate the said patient. This evaluation would either give further medical attention or would recommend a release for the patient.

These are basically the fundamentals of nursing, the basic things that a nurse has to do in the course of his/her duty. Indeed, they have many roles, and it’s more than just assisting.

Importance of Fundamentals of Nursing

Fundamentals of nursing are the courses that teach the basic principles and procedures of nursing. In the fundamentals of nursing, the student attends classes and provides care to chosen patients. The course highlights the significance of the fundamental needs of humans and competence in fundamental skills as prerequisites to providing extensive nursing care.

The nursing practice has to be dependent and based on nursing theories. These theories are proven and tested for so many years. These theories are the basis of the nursing discipline and what makes it a profession. The nursing concepts supply direction and assistance for structuring professional nursing practice, advancement, and research. It also differentiates the focus of nursing from other professions. It is designed to guide assessment, involvement, and evaluation of nursing care.

The theories also supply a rationale for collecting reliable and valid data about the health status of patients. These are essential for effective decision making and implementation. They assist in creating criteria to measure the quality of nursing care. They develop a common nursing terminology to use in communicating with other health care professionals. Lastly, nursing theories improve the autonomy of nursing by understanding its very own independent functions.

In nursing research, nursing theories offer a structure for producing knowledge and new ideas. They guide in discovering knowledge gaps in the specific field of study. Eventually, they give a systematic method of identification questions for study, select variables, translate findings, and authenticate nursing interventions. To comprehend nursing theories, a theory, conceptual frameworks, theory and conceptual model must first be defined. A theory is a system of ideas that is proposed to describe a given phenomena.

Concepts are the foundations of theory, are abstract ideas or mental images of phenomena. A conceptual framework is a collection of related concepts and processes. It provides an overall view or orientation to concentrate thoughts. A conceptual model is an illustration or diagram of a conceptual framework.

Nursing Challenges: Stress

Nurses face different challenges daily, not just in the hospital but in their personal life as well. Nursing is actually a career with lots of challenges. Nurses are confronted with emotional and professional demands that lots of people can’t even imagine. Taking responsibility for the wellness of people’s lives is a big challenge for individuals employed in healthcare. There have been numerous enhancements to controlling most of the physical perils of the nursing care. Good examples include universal safeguards and safety practices. However, there are concerning hazards to some nurse’s mental and emotional health.

Stress is associated with people working in the hospital. It may be the emotional and physical reaction experienced when a person is put in a situation he or she is not capable of handling. Nurses face different types of patients with different kinds of health conditions. These put so much stress on them while doing their own routine.

Signs and symptoms of stress include fatigue, disrupted sleep programs, high blood pressure and pulse, appetite loss or overeating, muscle tension, decreased libido, utilization of alcohol or drugs, irritability, eagerness, sadness, poor concentration, anxiety, worry, ambivalence, memory lapses, and lack of spontaneity. Physical results of stress may include cardiovascular disease, stroke, immune disorders, putting on weight, weight reduction, intestinal problems, diabetes, discomfort, headaches, fertility issues, allergic reactions, skin conditions, hair thinning, periodontal disease, and much more.

Stress could be handled in a number of ways in which can result in enhanced overall health and wellness for people employed in healthcare. Though the career has so many challenges, it’s still a satisfying profession which has a profound and positive impact on many people’s lives.

What are the fundamentals of Nursing?

The need for quality healthcare and its increasing demand puts pressure on any country to produce competitive and highly skilled nurses. To be able to do this, nursing programs must be able to extend to their nursing students how important is the profession, its roles and responsibilities, its effect on the industry etc. As the nursing students start their journey, they must first learn the basic foundations of the course and the profession in general. By learning this, the students will be able to grow and develop, following the essential foundation of their course.

In general, the fundamental subjects are one of the most exciting subjects of the nursing students. They will be thought of the basic principles, procedures, techniques, calculations etc. However, these are also important phase since they will be carrying the learning they have all throughout the course and their career as a nurse. The students will also be able to learn the fundamentals of nursing care in different health settings. Learning the proper way of treating and dealing with patients is essential to be effective and competitive. As early as the start of the course, they already learn the nursing science as well as the practices that are backed with evidences and researches gathered throughout the ages.

The fundamentals of nursing subjects are a mixture of tutorials, lectures, workshops and exposures. This will help them identify situations that affect the daily setting of a nursing practice. Nursing students, through these fundamentals, are being welcome in the field of health care. They must be able to reflect on how important is the course and what are the skills and the things they need to learn to become a professional nurse.

Nurses play a big role in the Healthcare industry. In fact, they are the most dominant in terms of their numbers. They are advocates of wellness, decision maker and an aid to the patients’ recovery. The nursing learning process will help students apply principles of biological, physical, as well as social sciences. Basic elements of health, nutrition, pharmacology and disease will be presented among students. Basic concepts of nursing are introduced and basic nursing skills are taught and practiced in the nursing lab.

The Fundamentals of Nursing course will provide lessons to students to give them ideas and perspective about the nursing history, current issues and updates of nursing as well as its history. Basic skills and values will also be taught to students such as therapeutic communication, nursing diagnosis, infection control, ethics and legal issues, basic physical assessment and competent care. There are laboratory exposures which trains the students in taking vitals, using gadgets and apparatuses, even teaching you how to put-up an NG tube.

Dealing with pressure and stress will also be part of the course. The nursing profession will require enough patience and sufficient skills to deal with different clinical conditions and settings. Stress will always be a part of the job and learning to deal with it will be important for the nurse to endure the job. Different schools offer different approaches in teaching their students the fundamentals of nursing. This may also depend on how their professors or nursing educators build the teaching program. These instructors must be highly qualified and trained to pass on the learning and skills to the students. Choosing a program or school that matches the needs of the student is vital in building his future as a nurse or nursing educator. It will also all depend on the student on how he applies his learning to his profession.

Programs Teaching Fundamentals of Nursing

If you are among those who find satisfaction in helping and looking after people, then nursing is the best suited profession for you. There is a great demand for nursing staff in the health care sector that can look after sick patients. These days, nursing staff are not only limited to medical centers, but they are equally in demand at treatment centers, voluntary organizations, pharmaceutical companies, hospices, jails, residential areas etc. Nursing is a growing profession with no signs of saturation or decrease. Hence, the first step to start a profession in patient care is to get registered in a college of nursing. There are many universities, colleges and community colleges that provide programs on nursing for learners desperate to learn basic skills and fundamentals of nursing.

However, the qualifications for an individual to engage in a diploma or a degree in nursing are only after finishing secondary school. Once registered in the course, an individual is taught the basics of human anatomy, physiology, biology, other primary principles, nursing skills and ideas to handle sufferers properly. The fundamentals of nursing include the basic and important jobs of a CNA in the healthcare industry. These primary responsibilities are activities of everyday life like bathing, cleansing, grooming, dressing, ambulation, exercising, feeding etc. Apart from correct diagnosis and medications, the recovery of an individual also depends on the type of care and support he gets from the hospital staff. Hence, it is necessary to know and carry out the fundamentals of nursing process and practice efficiently. Most of the training programs accomplish direct placement to people who qualify with good grades.

A degree program in nursing is generally of three to four years long. This program is separated into two parts. One part of the training is done in classes where learners are introduced to the fundamentals of nursing. This is called the Common Foundation Program. While the other aspect concentrates on the working experience and is performed in medical centers or medical organizations. After studying the primary principles in nursing, an individual is needed to choose his/her field of expertise. For example, specializing in psychological health or specializing in learning disabilities or in nursing for children. Those people who opt for a diploma course in nursing spend three years, while those who opt for a degree program in nursing are required to study for four years. However, there are some organizations that offer a degree in nursing in just three years.