The Student's Guide to Becoming a Nurse

Ian Peate

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781118278291
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Medizin
• Subtopic: Pflegefähigkeiten

The Student's Guide to BECOMING A NURSE

The Student's Guide to Becoming a Nurse is an essential guide for all student nurses who want to become competent practitioners. It explores the knowledge, skills and attitudes that all pre-registration nursing students must acquire by the end of their programme of study, enabling them to become confident, successful nurses.

Thoroughly re-written and updated to include the latest 2010 NMC standards for pre-registration nursing education, this invaluable textbook is divided into four key sections:

• Professional values
• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Nursing practice and decision making
• Leadership, management and team working

With case studies, top tips, activities and questions throughout, The Student's Guide to Becoming a Nurse is ideal for all pre-registration nurses and those about to qualify.

Student Reviews

"It's been designed for students and that's why I like it… it is student friendly, useful, easy to read."

Tamara Thomas, 2nd year nursing student, Swansea University

"I cannot fault the content – it is straight to the point, it provides some interesting resources for a student nurse that is essential for them to know… a joy to read."

Faye Elliott, 2nd year nursing student, Keele University

"I think the content and material is excellent… I will definitely be making recommendations to my friends."

Leanne Curran, 2nd year nursing student, University of Ulster

"This book is truly amazing and provided all of the information needed for my final exam to become a qualified nurse. I passed with flying colours, thanks."

Amazon review

Part I
Professional Values

1

The Code of Conduct and Professional Practice

---

Aims and Objectives

The aim of this chapter is to enable the reader to begin to understand some of the key professional values that underpin the art and science of nursing.

At the end of the chapter you will be able to do the following:

• Discuss some of the professional attributes that underlie the art and science of nursing
• Demonstrate an understanding of the history of nursing and the historical landmarks
• Outline the key functions of the Nursing and Midwifery Council
• Describe the key issues associated with codes of professional conduct
• Begin to apply the concepts discussed to the practice setting
• Appreciate the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s requirements of student nurses

---

The fundamental basis of nursing is associated with caring and helping; nursing is both an art and a science. One key aspect of the nurse’s role is to help people achieve or carry out those activities of living that they are unable to do for themselves. There are many facets associated with the role and function of the nurse. It is a fluid and dynamic entity and this makes it difficult to define.

There are a number of definitions of nursing. One is that of Henderson, which has been used since the 1960s:

The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to a peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge and to do this in such a way as to help him gain independence as rapidly as possible.

(Henderson, 1966)

This definition is succinct and to the point. It attempts to encompass and encapsulate many of the roles that the nurse performs, such as carer and health educator. Such a definition could be seen, although not exclusively, as the nature of nursing. Another definition provided by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is:

The use of clinical judgement in the provision of care to enable people to improve, maintain, or recover health, to cope with health problems, and to achieve the best possible quality of life, whatever their disease or disability until death.

(RCN, 2003)

This chapter is concerned with professional values that underpin nursing practice. An overview of the development of nursing, from what was an unstructured, ad hoc approach to caring, to what has become a regulated profession, is provided. The student nurse and unregistered practitioners are not subjected to the rigours of professional regulation. However, when you successfully complete your programme of study leading to registration, you will be subject to professional accountability and all that it entails (NMC, 2010a). It is expected that the student nurse will commit to the values of the profession and that he or she accepts and internalises the Code of Conduct as part of the process leading to registration. The code of professional conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives is discussed in detail in this chapter, with emphasis on commitment to the principle that the primary purpose of the registered nurse is to protect and serve society.

A Brief Overview of the History of Nursing in the UK

This brief overview of how the practice of nursing has evolved over the years outlines some key stages in the development of the nursing profession from a British perspective. It must be remembered, however, that the evolution of nursing in the UK did not occur in a vacuum. There are several other international factors that have also helped to focus and shape where we are today and where we may be going tomorrow.

To understand contemporary nursing it is important to have an understanding of where nursing has come from, how nursing has emerged and how it continues to evolve (Craig, 2010). Having an understanding of the way nursing has evolved and developed over the years may help you to appreciate the following:

• Why nursing is regarded as a profession in its own right
• How, by becoming empowered, nurses are in a position to enable others to do things for themselves
• That nurses have become autonomous practitioners
• How nurses are called to account for their actions and omissions.

This aspect of the chapter makes use of a ‘time line’ in order to frame the discussion about the historical overview. A time line provides you with important dates and events that have occurred over the years and that have had an influence on the evolution of the nursing profession. The discussion centres on the significant events and key characters that have influenced the development of nursing over the ages.

The Prehistoric Era

The practice of nursing predates history, according to Craig (2010). Those who lived in the prehistoric period suffered similar conditions to those experienced by society today. Tribes in those early years took part in caring for their sick and wounded (Hallett, 2010). Archaeologists have retrieved human remains that demonstrate that fractured limbs have been healed, suggesting therefore that some form of care provision occurred. Healers or shamans used various potions and magical concoctions to heal the sick. Those responsible for feeding and cleaning the sick were predominantly females.

The Bible makes reference to nurses and midwives, e.g. Genesis 35 and Exodus 1. In Exodus 2 there is evidence to suggest that nurses were paid for their services. Numbers 11 refers to males who undertook the caring role.

The Ancient Greeks

In ancient Greece temples were erected to honour the goddess Hygeia, the goddess of health. Care at the temples was related to bathing and this activity was overseen by priestesses, who were not nurses. The foundation of modern medicine was laid down by Hippocrates during this period. Navel cutters – known as omphalotomai – were also practising at this time.

The Roman Empire

The first hospitals were established in the Byzantine Empire, which was the first part of the Roman Empire. As the Roman Empire expanded hospitals were erected. It was Fabiola, a wealthy Roman, who was responsible for the introduction of hospitals in the west; she devoted her life to the sick and made nursing the sick and poor fashionable in Roman society. The primary carers in these hospitals were men, who were called contubernails. After the Roman invasion in approximately AD 2 slave girls were known to assist Roman physicians. Valetudinaria – civilian hospitals – were kept clean and aired by bailiffs’ wives, who would also watch over the sick.

The Middle Ages

Throughout the Middle Ages military, religious and lay orders of men provided most of the health care. Some of these orders of men included the Knights Hospitalers, the Order of the Holy Sprit and Teutonic Knights. Although these men provided care, charlatans and quacks provided treatment for money. The standard of care provided by the latter people often did more harm than good.

Several hospitals were opened during this period, e.g. St Thomas’s, St Bartholomew’s and Bethlem. Care provision that had been provided by nuns was now provided by local women, whose efforts were overseen by matrons. Their duties centred on domestic chores.

The Enlightenment

The core period of the Enlightenment was the second half of the eighteenth century. Scientific endeavour flourished during the Enlightenment and philanthropists provided the means to open charity hospitals around the UK. In London, for example, the London, Middlesex and Guy’s Hospitals provided care to the poor who were ill. These hospitals employed nurses who may have been paid or unpaid. These nurses again predominantly carried out domestic duties. Pay was low and it was not unusual for nurses to drink alcohol and take money from patients in order to pay for their alcohol. Nurses at this time were slovenly and lazy, and reflected characters such as Sairey Gamp and Betsy Prig, caricatures devised by Charles Dickens. Alms houses depended on women to clean floors, make beds and bathe the poor. There were no standards for nurses to work towards.

Medical schools began to emerge as medical knowledge grew. The Royal College of Surgeons was formed in 1800 and at this time doctors were required to carry out some aspects of their training in hospitals.

Florence Nightingale

The founder of modern nursing was born in Italy in 1820 and died aged 90 in 1910. When she was 25 years old she told her parents that she wanted to become a nurse. Her parents were totally opposed to the idea, because nursing ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations Commonly Used in Health Care
• Introduction
• Part I: Professional Values
• Part II: Communication and Interpersonal Skills
• Part III: Nursing Practice and Decision-making
• Part IV: Leadership and Management
• Activity Answers
• Glossary of Terms
• Index