SCOPE OF NURSING
Nurses provide care for three types of clients:individuals,families,and communities. Theoretical frameworks applicable to these client types, as well as assessments of individual, family and community health.NUrsing practice involves four areas:promoting health and wellness,preventing illness,restoring health, and care of the dying.
Promoting Health and Wellness *
Wellnes is a state of well being. It means engaging in attitues and behavior that enhance the quality of life and maximize personal potential(Anspaugh,Hamrick,& Rosata,2001).
Nurses promote wellness in clients who are both health and ill. This may involve ondividual and community activiites to enhance health lifestyles, such as improving nutrition and physical fitness, preventing drug and alchol misuse,restricting smoking and preventing accidents and injury in the home and workplace.
Preventing Illness*
The goal of illnes prevention program is to maintain optimal health by preventing disease. Nursing activities that prevent illness include immunizations,prenatal and infant care,prevention of sexually transmitted disease.
Restoring Health*
Restoring health focuses on the ill and it extends from early detection of disease through helping the client during the recovery period. Nursing activities include the following:
Providing direct care to the ill person, such as administering medcations, baths and specific procedures and treatments.
Performing diagnostic and assessment procedures,such as measuring blood pressure and examining feces for occult blood.
Consulting with other health care professionals about client problems.
Teaching clients about recovery activities, such as exercises that will accelerate recovery after a stroke.
Rehabilitating clients to their optimal functional level following physical or mental illness, injury, or chemical addiction
Care of the dying*
This area of nursing practice involves comforting and caring for people of all ages who are dying. It includs helping clients live as comfortably as possible until death and helping support persons cope with death. Nurses carrying out these activites work in homes, hospitals, extended care facilities. Some agnecies,called hospices, are specifically designed for this purpose.