EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE
NURSING PROFESSIONAL ROLES
Caregiver
Nurses help their patients regain health and find their maximum level of independent function
through the healing process. Healing involves the body, mind, and spirit.
Not always curative it’s also caring.
Advocate
Nurses protect the human and legal rights of their patients and help patients assert those rights
when needed.
Educator
Your teaching can be formal or informal and will involve the patient, family, significant other, or
other support systems.
Communicator
You know that communication is central to the nurse patient relationship. Again, it is important
to develop a communication style for use with patients and members of their support system, as
well as a style for communicating with other members of the health care team.
Manager
As a manager, you will collaborate with others to help your patients meet their established
outcomes and will evaluate the manner in which care is administered. As a manager of care, you
will evaluate staff nurses to determine whether they meet professional and health care facility
standards.
CLARA BARTON – founded the American Red Cross in 1882
PATRICIA BENNER – novice nurse to expert nurse theory
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE – founder of modern day nursing
Believes that Nursing is:
A calling
An art & science
Requires specific educational base
Distinct/ separate from medicine
Achieved through environmental alteration
Theory:
One should alter the environment so natural laws would allow healing.
Room Environment
Fresh air, sunlight, low noise
, Clean
Bodies, air, water, linens, dressings
Contributions:
First practicing epidemiologist Believed nursing separate from
Organized first school of nursing medicine
Improved sanitation in battlefield Initiated documentation to improve
hospitals patient care
Her practice remains a basic part of Recognized importance of nutrition
nursing today Instituted occupational and recreational
Identified personal needs of the client therapy
Established standards for hospital Stressed the need for continuing
management education for nurses
Established respected occupation for Maintained accurate records- the
women beginning of nursing research
Established nursing education
NOVICE NURSE – beginning nursing student or any nurse entering a situation in which there is
no previous level of experience. The learner learns via specific set of rules or procedures, which
are usually stepwise and linear.
ADVANCED BEGINNER – a nurse who has had some level of experience with the situation. This
experience may only be observational in nature, but the nurse is able to identify meaningful
aspects or principles of nursing care.
COMPETENT – a nurse who has been in the same clinical position for 2 to 3 years. This nurse
understands the organization and specific care required by the type of patients. He or she is a
competent practitioner who is able to anticipate nursing care and establish long-range goals. In
this phase the nurse has usually had experience with all types of psychomotor skills required by
this specific group of patients.
PROFECIENT – a nurse with more than 2 to 3 years of experience in the same clinical position.
This nurse perceives a patient’s clinical situation as a whole, is able to assess an entire situation,
and can readily transfer knowledge gained from multiple previous experiences to a situation.
This nurse focuses on managing care as opposed to managing and performing skills.
EXPERT NURSE – a nurse with diverse experience who has an intuitive grasp of an existing or
potential clinical problem. This nurse is able to zero in on the problem and focus on multiple
dimensions of the situation. He or she is skilled at identifying both patient-centered problems
and problems related to the health care system or perhaps the needs of the novice nurse.
ACCOUNTABILITY – state of being answerable for one’s actions- a nurse answers to himself or
herself, the patient, the profession, the employing institution such as a hospital, and society for
the effectiveness of nursing care performed.
NURSING PROFESSIONAL ROLES
Caregiver
Nurses help their patients regain health and find their maximum level of independent function
through the healing process. Healing involves the body, mind, and spirit.
Not always curative it’s also caring.
Advocate
Nurses protect the human and legal rights of their patients and help patients assert those rights
when needed.
Educator
Your teaching can be formal or informal and will involve the patient, family, significant other, or
other support systems.
Communicator
You know that communication is central to the nurse patient relationship. Again, it is important
to develop a communication style for use with patients and members of their support system, as
well as a style for communicating with other members of the health care team.
Manager
As a manager, you will collaborate with others to help your patients meet their established
outcomes and will evaluate the manner in which care is administered. As a manager of care, you
will evaluate staff nurses to determine whether they meet professional and health care facility
standards.
CLARA BARTON – founded the American Red Cross in 1882
PATRICIA BENNER – novice nurse to expert nurse theory
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE – founder of modern day nursing
Believes that Nursing is:
A calling
An art & science
Requires specific educational base
Distinct/ separate from medicine
Achieved through environmental alteration
Theory:
One should alter the environment so natural laws would allow healing.
Room Environment
Fresh air, sunlight, low noise
, Clean
Bodies, air, water, linens, dressings
Contributions:
First practicing epidemiologist Believed nursing separate from
Organized first school of nursing medicine
Improved sanitation in battlefield Initiated documentation to improve
hospitals patient care
Her practice remains a basic part of Recognized importance of nutrition
nursing today Instituted occupational and recreational
Identified personal needs of the client therapy
Established standards for hospital Stressed the need for continuing
management education for nurses
Established respected occupation for Maintained accurate records- the
women beginning of nursing research
Established nursing education
NOVICE NURSE – beginning nursing student or any nurse entering a situation in which there is
no previous level of experience. The learner learns via specific set of rules or procedures, which
are usually stepwise and linear.
ADVANCED BEGINNER – a nurse who has had some level of experience with the situation. This
experience may only be observational in nature, but the nurse is able to identify meaningful
aspects or principles of nursing care.
COMPETENT – a nurse who has been in the same clinical position for 2 to 3 years. This nurse
understands the organization and specific care required by the type of patients. He or she is a
competent practitioner who is able to anticipate nursing care and establish long-range goals. In
this phase the nurse has usually had experience with all types of psychomotor skills required by
this specific group of patients.
PROFECIENT – a nurse with more than 2 to 3 years of experience in the same clinical position.
This nurse perceives a patient’s clinical situation as a whole, is able to assess an entire situation,
and can readily transfer knowledge gained from multiple previous experiences to a situation.
This nurse focuses on managing care as opposed to managing and performing skills.
EXPERT NURSE – a nurse with diverse experience who has an intuitive grasp of an existing or
potential clinical problem. This nurse is able to zero in on the problem and focus on multiple
dimensions of the situation. He or she is skilled at identifying both patient-centered problems
and problems related to the health care system or perhaps the needs of the novice nurse.
ACCOUNTABILITY – state of being answerable for one’s actions- a nurse answers to himself or
herself, the patient, the profession, the employing institution such as a hospital, and society for
the effectiveness of nursing care performed.
