The Impact of Nurses Throughout the Healthcare System
In any healthcare setting, there’s one constant: nurses are at the center of it all.
Nurses are more than caregivers. They’re the first to greet a patient, often the last to say goodbye, and the steady presence through every diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. While much of their work may happen quietly, the impact of nurses is undeniable.
Historical Impact of Nurses
Florence Nightingale, widely regarded as the founder of modern nursing, redefined the role during the Crimean War by emphasizing hygiene, data-driven care, and compassion. From Nightingale’s experience, she created the coxcomb diagram to illustrate the number of deaths from battle wounds over time alongside the number of deaths from post-battle disease. As one of the first forms of data visualization, Nightingale was able to illustrate how more soldiers were dying from care than from battle, convincing the British government to reform military healthcare facilities, saving countless lives and shaping the future of how healthcare is delivered.
Since then, nurses have been at the forefront of healthcare crises by responding to wars, epidemics, and natural disasters with resilience and a caring heart. In addition they contribute to advancing healthcare practices and ensuring safe and quality care.
Dynamic Role
The scope of a nurse’s role goes beyond bedside care. Nurses serve as educators, helping patients and families understand complex medical information and supporting them in making informed decisions about their healthcare. By effectively educating patients on the healthcare needs and post care instructions, nurses empower patients to take charge of their health beyond the healthcare setting.
Nurses also act as advocates, acting as the patient’s eyes and voice when receiving care. Through advocating for patient-centered care, nurses support the rights, needs, and preferences of their patients. These multidimensional roles underscore just how essential nurses are in delivering effective patient care.
Shaping the Future of Healthcare
Nurses shape the future of healthcare through their practice everyday. Just as Florence Nightingale transformed the delivery of healthcare through her unique perspective on the patient experience, nurses today utilize their critical thinking skills to promote and advance evidence-based practice in nursing care. The advancements of evidence-based practices have contributed to an improved ability to care for fall risk patients, better hand hygiene practices, and more informed prevention efforts for pressure ulcers, ultimately saving lives and improving the quality of the patient experience.
Beyond the classroom, nurses take on a multifaceted role that is crucial to effective care and innovation in nursing practice. To impact the future of healthcare, however, nurses must remain in the field past their transition to practice.
Beginning the journey of clinical practice can pose challenges for new grad RNs making it crucial to nurture them beyond their first year.Through support, guidance, and mentorship, TruMont offers solutions that help to ease the transition from an academic setting to the hospital environment. Strengthening the nursing workforce, encouraging nurses to take ownership of their practice, and changing the future of healthcare. Hospitals that use the TruMont RN Residency are seeing increased new grad recruitment and decreased new grad turnover.
Nurses are foundational to the healthcare system. Their impact spans from clinical outcomes to healthcare education to patient advocacy. As healthcare grows more complex, nurses remain what they’ve always been: compassionate, capable, and indispensable.
