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The mention of the word “Nurse” evokes the image of a compassionate lady in a white uniform who selflessly cares for patients. Administering intravenous fluids, ensuring that patients take their medications on time, and monitoring their health, nurses perform numerous tasks. Therefore, it is appropriate that they are usually called “Sisters” because, regardless of the patient’s age, region, or religion, nurses treat everyone with care and compassion.
Nursing Practice and Florence Nightingale
The nursing practice has been around since ancient times, but it was the legendary Florence Nightingale who promoted the formal nursing profession as we know it today. The iconic “Lady with the Lamp” ushered in the era of compassionate, educated professional nurses. Her efforts were instrumental in beginning nursing training in India at St Stevens Hospital in Delhi in 1867. Nightingale, Clara Barton (founder of the American Red Cross), Mary Ezra Mahoney (the first African American nursing college graduate), and Virginia Lynch (regarded as the mother of forensic nursing) are world renowned for their contributions to nursing. In its infancy, nursing focused primarily on treating soldiers wounded in wars or in times of epidemics, but over time, it has become a critical and multidimensional area of medical care worldwide. Nurses today are the wheels that propel the health care vehicle forward.
One step from being a doctor, modern nurses practice many specialties and also have varying degrees of authority to prescribe medications. With the diversified nature of the requirements, modern nursing services and the role of nurses have changed rapidly. In many areas, ancestral conventions are being replaced by contemporary needs-based considerations. In countries like the United Kingdom and the USA. Even nursing specialists are licensed in many states to diagnose medical conditions and prescribe medication or treatment therapies in consultation with qualified professionals. Doctors In India, the nursing profession is highly respected and a critical force multiplier due to the shortage of qualified doctors. The scope and range of services offered by nurses has only expanded with the emergence of private healthcare operators.
Today, nurses not only work in the institutional care sector, but also play a key role in the development of home health care services in India. There are over 100 million older people in India, and a large number of them suffer from chronic diseases such as heart, kidney or respiratory diseases. With increasing life expectancy, this older population needs expert support and care in their daily tasks. Nurses are actively involved in meeting this requirement. They provide care at home to people with mobility difficulties and provide services such as physical therapy, etc.
Communicable disease and pandemic management is another area where nurses make exemplary effort, often risking their own well-being. In addition to providing medical care to sick people, they also take care of their emotional and mental well-being. When a patient has to spend time in isolation due to diseases like tuberculosis, cancer, or viral outbreaks like SARS and Covid-19, nurses act as the bridge between them and the outside world. The massive burden of chronic disease makes nursing a relentless job with very high expectations.
Nurses in India continue to advance and establish new benchmarks for service delivery despite resource constraints. Healthcare providers and authorities are also now focusing more on supporting nurses by creating more training opportunities. The ever-smiling “Sister” often becomes a pillar of strength during a patient’s recovery process. Very often patients remember fondly the name of the nurse who attended during a previous hospitalization. With the advancement of technology and the emergence of new areas of medical care, nursing will play an increasingly important role in the coming years.
Dr. Vishal Sehgal is Medical Director at Portea Medical
(This story has been published by a cable agency without modifications to the text)
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