The religious history of nursing, combined with the social desire to help others and scientific curiosity, provides the basis for what is now the career of thousands of Americans, helping nurses and physicians care for their patients. As the practice of medicine has become more complex, the need for nursing aides has grown. Florence Nightingale led a movement nursing in the U.S. was established in New York City at Bellevue Hospital. But not everyone who feels the ‘calling’ to be a nurse is able to pursue the difficult educational path to licensing. Working as a nursing aide is often the perfect first step toward becoming a licensed nurse, while providing a necessary link in the health care system.
The increased burden on trained nurses has made nursing aides irreplaceable. The aides provide basic care for those who are incapacitated and free nurses and doctors to minister to their patient’s diseases. The work done by nursing and psychiatric aides varies greatly. Much of the difference depends on the place of work, whether it is a hospital, a nursing home, a mental health facility, or a drug rehabilitation center.
Part of their clinical research careers, nursing aides respond to patients’ calls, deliver messages, serve meals, help feed patients who cannot feed themselves, bathe and dress patients, bring and empty bedpans, help patients in and out of bed, or move them places in wheelchairs or stretchers, assist patients to walk if they are able, give messages, and treat irritated skin on bedridden patients.
As assistants in hospitals, they may perform routine organizational tasks such as moving supplies in supply rooms or arranging the pharmacy’s shelves. Besides, the basics of routine care, a major function of hospital assistants is to spend time with patients. The patients count on the encouragement and support of their aides.
Part of their jobs in clinical research, practical nurses perform certain tasks that aides with less experience cannot. Under the supervision of a physician, for example, a practical nurse may check a patient’s vital signs. Birth attendants help nurse-midwives or obstetricians assist women in childbirth. These attendants also require special training. First-aid attendants have certification in the techniques of first aid and are especially helpful in emergency situations.
Furthermore, in the category of nursing and psychiatric aides, specialists include psychiatric aides’ clinical research jobs to report to psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and therapists. They often spend time with their patients, reading, playing games, or watching television. Because they socialize more with their patients, they are able to recognize change and improvement more easily than some of the physicians who see the patients less. They thus play an invaluable role in patient care.
Mental-retardation aides specialize in patients who are mentally handicapped. Nursing aides can have a wide range of responsibilities. If a patient seems to be improving and needs less care from a physician, a nursing aide may be asked to help in and perform more functions. Meanwhile, orderlies often have more physical responsibilities than other aides. They wheel stretchers when patients have to be transferred, help patients change beds, and sometimes are asked to help restrain violent patients in mental health facilities. Geriatric nursing aides help care for the elderly. They work in nursing homes and hospital as well as in patient’s homes. As the life span gets longer and the elderly population in the United States grows, geriatric nursing aides are in increasingly large demand.
Because almost every community has a hospital, clinic, nursing home, or drug rehabilitation center, access to experience in the health care field is relatively easy. Even young students are enthusiastically welcomed as volunteers. This is a wonderful opportunity to help one’s community while learning first-hand the kind of work that nursing and psychiatric aides do. Part-time jobs are sometimes available for qualified applicants as an orderlies’ helper. Community or public-health services and the Red Cross are other sources of information for those interested in nursing aide jobs. Taking health care courses is also a good way to learn about the field. Teachers at vocational schools and community colleges are often able to guide students to the kind of health care facility that best suits them.
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