Essay Summary of Nursing
Community nurses are the nurses who work in a particular community for its welfare. With their ability to understand, they can deal with the health of residents living in any community. They work in the field of public health in order to perform tasks including population and community evaluation, development and implementation of community health programs and working in teams in order to work with discipline. Nurses in acute care settings work along with other health care specialists (Green, 27).
The nurse is involved in the healing, security and recovery of intensely sick patients, looking after the health of healthy patience and operations of patients who are suffer from life threatening ailment. They perform non-clinical job that are vital for health care. Death and birth care is also provided by the nurses. Nurses practice in variety of acute settings that are available to them. They work in hospitals, schools, pharmaceutical companies, clinics, camps, militaries (Burbach, 98).
Even though, nurses from different area of expertise seem to be more or less in abilities, we cannot conclude that nurses working in acute care settings are not capable. For example, Nurses working in critical care settings are experts on pregnancy and birth related aspects than community nurses. The question comes whether to justify that it is a false impression or a fact that a skill in one setting can be use as a skill in another (Humphrey, 19). When developing intermediary plans with requirements of constant management, the need of feedback and extra training is mandatory.
This can help the nurses to put into practice and increase experience in non acute care settings before complete service changes are ready. This would enable the nurses to use their abilities and be confident to work in non acute settings. Equally essential, it is important for non acute setting nurses to continue with their education (Conrad, 28).
The skills of dressing and taking care of wounds, having complete knowledge about the community’s resources, information on diabetes, patient family support and good communication skills with third party payers are very important when working in the community. These are the skills that help the nurse when working in the community. These nurses work under their leaders, learn in the learning atmosphere and accommodate themselves to adjustments to changes (Feldman, 17). They have the ability to work efficiently which has been dictated to them.
They have the ability to work in a peaceful atmosphere and ignoring their colleague’s weaknesses. Nurses working in acute settings require the information, capabilities and experience to take care of their patients and the families. At the same time, the nurse creates loving, kind and restoring health environment. At the same time, they fulfill various responsibilities. They work directly with patients, they provide education to fresh nurses, they work as researchers, and they are managers (Shea, 67).
A community nurse works independently as compared with nurses who work in acute settings. The main aim of a community nurse is to focus on the population and persons who do not necessarily seek out the services. Nurses working in acute care settings differ from community nurses in many ways. Nurses working in acute care settings do not have the access to direct clinical practice.
They do not have the advance skills to provide education and teaching skills to patients and family (Loreti, 32). They work under superiors. They are not consultants and they do not take part in research. They carry out duties that are instructed to them. They do not require any leadership quality. They do not write policies or build partnerships. They are restricted in certain working conditions (Stephany, 13).
Nurses working in the acute care settings assess the critical and acute patient’s health status. Community nurses have to demonstrate the ability to make decisions for a variety of situations. They also need to demonstrate the need for promoting the rights of clients. They have to ensure the safety of their patients. Communications skills are very important for nurses working in the community and acute care settings. However community nurses require effective communication skills as compared with nurses working in acute care settings because the former might interact with poor and marginalized sections of society.
A community nurse has to reflect primary health care principles to ensure that clients become independent and responsible (Brent, 10). An acute setting nurse on the other hand has to keep and document the health history of critical and chronically ill patients. A community nurse must have leadership and management skills to ensure that multiple approaches are used to assist the client in health issues (Wood, 17).
Community nurses have to apply a public health framework to build community health nursing. They must plan and integrate health promotion into the aspects of community health nursing. They must also apply knowledge of health promotion to achieve public health policies (Hunt, 36). They must coordinate the development and implementation of health promotion plans. An acute settings nurse on the other hand is more concerned with assessing the needs of additional screening after initial assessment findings. They must have adequate skills to assess the impact of acute or chronic injuries on the individual (Bailey, 714).
A nurse working in acute settings needs to be very quick and capable of working with complex and dependant patients. In the community settings, assessment and decision making abilities play an important role in the delivery of patient care. Nurses in the acute settings must quickly identify outcomes based on actual or potential diagnosis (Sobolewski, 12). Intervention plans are individualized according to the characteristics of the patients. The plan is developed in collaboration with other health professionals and family members. They ensure that there is continuity of care and properly documented.
A community nurse on the other hand must demonstrate the ability to have effective problem solving strategies. They must also make the use of systematic decision making techniques. These decisions need to be based on experience and clinical judgment. Community nurses have a higher degree of autonomy as compared with nurses working in acute settings. They have to participate in decision making to ensure accountability. They must also make appropriate solutions in response to a range of options (Harris, 14).
Nurses in the community need to demonstrate the ability to make autonomous decisions and independence. They have to resolve complex situations using multiple approaches. A nurse working in the acute setting on the other hand does not have a high degree of autonomy. They also do not need to demonstrate a level of independence. Nurses working in the community differ from those who work in acute settings. They have work in developing community health programs and teams. Nurses in acute settings on other hand work for healing and recovery of intensely sick patients.
Works Cited
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