The Importance of Nursing Roles

The Importance of Nursing Roles Nurses have always been the backbone of healthcare and first response teams. Nurses are the first interaction a patient will have. The observations that a nurse makes through symptom analysis will aid the doctor in diagnosing the patient. This paper will first give a brief history of nursing and nursing roles and will focus on nursing theories and theorists. This paper will answer the question of how nursing theories helped to structure the nursing profession of today. In conclusion, this paper will focus on the importance of nursing roles in the modern healthcare system. British nursing has paved the way in the primary health care field of today (Salvage, 2009). Victorian district nurses were the first public health nurses and have a notable history of client focused care principled in the education of nurses throughout the world today (Salvage, 2009). In today’s world, a nurses role within the public health spectrum include well baby care, health education, screening and immunization clinics, disaster management and emergency awareness (Savage & Kub, 2009). They bring a unique set of skills needed to plan, implement, and evaluate public health interventions. They have knowledge of disease and wellness based on both their education and experience that includes the understanding the clinical implications of public health interventions (Savage & Kub, 2009). Nurses have numerous roles, depending on their area of skill. They care for the patients in hospitals, in nursing homes or in the community. They carry out the doctor’s orders, but they also make their own nursing diagnoses. Information gathered through research in this area is useful in improving a nurse’s efficiency and contentment on the job. “The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe–how to observe–what symptoms indicate improvement–what the reverse–which are of importance–which are of none–which are the