Nursing practices - Past, Present and Future Essay

Nursing practices - Past, Present and Future - Essay Example ppened and whether these changes are relevant and significant not just in the nursing profession itself but as well as in the health care delivery to patients. Before, nurses are deemed associated with and only secondary to physicians. The role of nurses then were limited to menial delivery of patient care such as changing bandages, changing of bed linens, providing sponge bath and procedures that are deemed around as dirty work (Casciato 2011; Kessler et al., 2012, p. 22). Today, the job role of nurses have made an impact and leaped over the years from a low profile shadowed job by a physician and emerged now as independent profession that has made a major impact in the health care industry. The utilization of nursing job roles in the industry can be seen in the presence of emerging nursing branches such as school nursing, occupational health nursing, travel nursing, home health nursing and community health nursing. This is a proof that the job roles of nurses are not just limited to the traditional hospital bedside care and extends to even broader aspect of health. Allen cited that the phenomenal changes in the nurses’ job content happened during the 1960’s. First as a result of medical science that have expanded and delegated clinical responsibilities to nurses. Second, was due to the growing numbers of chronically ill patients requiring care. True enough the job role of the nurse has expanded in response to the changing populations and the philosophical shift toward health promotion rather than illness cure (Masters, 2009, p. 176). Education can be pointed as the biggest turning point nurses had in the advancement of the career. Before, nurses are merely educated just trained. Now, nurses are more educated having Bachelor’s, Master’s and even Doctorate degrees. Education and training has made nurses equipped with even greater knowledge that made the nursing profession cope up with the technological advancement and modernization. Indeed