Advances in Nursing
Healthcare delivery is constantly changing. Any changes affect registered nurses, as the largest group of healthcare providers. There have been many advances in medicine over the last 25 years, over the last decade, and even year to year.
One of the biggest changes is a shift toward preventive care. There is now so much known about how to prevent cardiovascular disease that an army of providers is needed to help get people doing the right things. Patients need to be evaluated, and then taught to implement lifestyle changes and take appropriate medicines. Lowering overall cholesterol and raising so-called "good" cholesterol should be a goal of just about every adult. Maintaining an ideal weight, getting enough aerobic exercise, eating a healthy diet, and not smoking all greatly reduce the risk of heart attack and other vascular diseases like strokes. Nurses play an important role in trying to change the way Americans eat and live. They may provide education to patients either one-on-one or in groups. They can also work in weight-loss clinics and stop-smoking clinics.
Closely related to this is prevention and treatment of diabetes. It is now known that weight loss can completely control type II (adult-onset) diabetes. Proper diet, exercise, and correct insulin dosages improve the outlook for younger patients with type I diabetes. Registered nurse educators teach diabetic care. Again, they can work one-on-one or in groups to help patients learn what to do.
Even with this knowledge, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The treatment of patients with coronary artery disease, which causes heart attacks, has changed. There is a huge array of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Nurses work alongside doctors doing many of these procedures. When patients actually suffer from a heart attack, care in the emergency room and then the CCU (cardiac care unit) is critical. Patients need medication and/or procedures quickly. They are monitored in many more ways now, and nurses in the CCU have to be watching the telemetry to know when an intervention might be necessary. Emergency room nurses need similar skills plus the ability to start an intervention themselves in an emergency situation.
That is a good example of advances in nursing - the ability to monitor patients with so many devices and procedures. There is more data coming in, much of it technical, and nurses have to be able to understand and process the data. They also have to be comfortable with placement of various monitoring or therapeutic devices, the numbers of which grow all the time. The addition of many technological changes to healthcare is also one of the advances in nursing.
Cancer treatment has also improved. Patients now live many years with a lot of types of cancer. Instead of just looking for a cure, oncologists and other doctors treating cancer are finding ways for patients to live with cancer like any other chronic disease. New chemotherapy medicines are helping, and there are also better medicines to handle the side effects of chemotherapy. Registered nurses handle chemotherapy and help patients during treatment. Along with the advances in chemotherapy come new jobs for nurses.
In terms of the nursing profession, more nurses are opting to get higher degrees. A higher percentage of RNs now have BSNs than in the past, and an even higher percentage will be enrolled in nursing colleges to get BSNs in the coming years. More nurses are getting master's degrees, certifying in specific skills like critical care nursing or neonatal ICU nursing. More are earning advanced nursing degrees to become nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives.
As the baby boomers age and more healthcare providers are needed, nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists can be providing primary care to many of them. More and more anesthesia delivery is done by nurse anesthetists.
There will continue to be medical advances, technological advances, and advances in the delivery of healthcare. Advances in nursing care will always be part of progress.
Published: 2009-09-24
