Just a Nurse? Not Anymore.

By Nancy Wurtzel

Which profession is the most trusted in America?  According to an annual Gallup poll, for the past 15 years, nursing has claimed the top spot as the nation’s most honest, ethical profession.

“Trust plays an important role in the relationship between nurses and the patients we serve,” said Pamela Cipriano, Ph.D., RN, president of the American Nurses Association. “Based on this survey, no other profession is held in as high regard by the public.  And given nursing’s frontline perspective on healthcare delivery, we offer a point of view that is unmatched.”

Not only is nursing highly respected, it is one of our most important professions.

In fact, our healthcare system could never function without nurses.  They are at the forefront of health care and currently make up the largest sector of health care providers, with more than three million registered nurses currently working in the U.S.

For patients, the word ‘nursing’ conjures up bedside care and compassion.  While these skills remain vitally important, today’s nurses are tasked with so much more.  For instance, nurses have to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, team players, educators, clear communicators, planners and patient advocates.

Nurses must also be able to master evolving technology.

“Technology has reached a level of sophistication unheard of 30 years ago,” said Jeanine Carr, Ph.D., RN and associate professor at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Vermont.

Carr says nurses must be tech savvy in many areas.  She cites smart pumps that deliver intravenous fluids and medications, medication dispensing systems, medication scanners, and the electronic health record as just a handful of technology that comprises the world of today’s nursing.

Being tech savvy will also help nurses spend more time with patients.  Currently, nurses spend only 40 percent of their time with patients.  Charting, gathering data, and communicating with numerous other staff are gobbling up nurse’s valuable time.

Looking to the future, advanced systems technology will allow for seamless communication whenever and wherever.

Nurses are also on the frontline of supervising and evaluating patient treatment.

From the patient perspective, nurses are their greatest advocate.  They spend the most time with patients, and can gauge both progress and any red flags that could be roadblocks to improvement.  Nurses then communicate their assessment to physicians and others.

Nursing wasn’t always so sophisticated.

In fact, nursing wasn’t even considered a profession worthy of pay until the 1870s.  Before then, nurses were family members without any training, and they cared for relatives at home.

This viewpoint of nursing began to change during the Civil War when male nurses were common on the frontlines of battle, and over 20,000 women volunteered to work in military hospitals in cities and sometimes in makeshift battlefield hospitals.  With little formal training, they learned on-the-job, but they were critical to caring for soldiers and others during this long war.

Clara Barton was the most well-known nurse during this period.  Widely remembered for her efforts to promote nursing, Barton also established the American Red Cross, which supported disaster relief as well as early nursing education.

By the 1880s, formal programs for training nurses were created in hospital settings, and later in colleges.  Nursing was beginning to be seen as a desirable job for women, both in hospitals and as public health workers.  Men eventually joined the ranks of educated nurses, but they still only make up about 10 percent of all nurses in the U.S.

Nursing evolved with the times.  In 1964, the Nurse Training Act transformed the education of nurses from primarily a hospital setting to universities and colleges.  As a result, nursing became more highly skilled and specialized, with numerous levels of education and degrees.

Now, the landscape of nursing is changing again, and the nursing profession is leading the way.

The biggest transformation is that nurses are moving from a mostly clinical setting to a community-based model.  Just five years ago, more than 80 percent of new nurses moved into hospital positions after graduation.  This number has dropped to less than 60 percent because patients are staying in hospitals for shorter periods and because the delivery of healthcare is changing rapidly.

More nurses are needed in areas of transitional care and patient education.  It won’t be surprising to find many more nurses doing their jobs in homes, retail spaces, business environments, and through telemedicine and telehealth.

As healthcare delivery changes, nurses will be needed more than ever.