A nurse (occasionally medic) is a healthcare
professional, who along with other health care professionals, is responsible for the
treatment, safety, and recovery of acutely or chronically ill or injured people, health
maintenance of the healthy, and treatment of life-threatening emergencies in a
wide range of health care settings.
Nurses may also be involved in medical and nursing research and
perform a wide range of non-clinical functions necessary to the delivery of
health care. Nurses also provide care at birth and death. There is currently a shortage of nurses in
the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and a number of other developed
countries.
Health care settings generally involve a wide range of medical
professionals who work in collaboration with nurses.
Examples include:
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Nursing assistants,
orderlies,
auxiliary nurses,
medical
assistants,
personal support workers. These
types of health care workers work both in acute and primary settings, with the
supervision of
registered nurses or
licensed practical nurses (in the
US). They assist nurses by giving basic care, taking vital signs,
administering hygienic care, assisting with feeding, giving basic psychosocial
care, housekeeping, and similar duties (such as cleaning stool and urine). See
also
hospital
volunteers.
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EMTs and
Paramedics
work closely with emergency and critical care nurses to stabilize
life-threatening trauma and medical emergencies and to provide a seamless
transfer of care from incoming
ambulances to awaiting medical/surgical teams.
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Technicians: for example, certified
medication aides in the US, are trained to administer medications in a
long-term care setting. There are also
phlebotomy
technicians, who perform
venipuncture;
surgical technologist (US), and
technicians trained to operate most kinds of diagnostic and laboratory
equipment, such as X-ray machines, electrocardiographs, and so forth.
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Pharmacists are responsible for the safe
dispensing of medicine and offering of expert advice on drug therapies.
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