SCOPE OF NURSING

PRACTICE
• FOUR AREAS:
– Promoting Health and Wellness

– Preventing Illness

– Restoring Health

– Care of the Dying

 SCOPE OF NURSING
PRACTICE
• PROMOTING HEALTH AND WELLNESS

– Wellness – state of well-being. Engaging in

attitudes and behavior that enhance the
quality of life and maximize personal potential
– For both healthy and ill.
– Involve individual and community activities to
enhance healthy lifestyle, such as improving
nutrition and physical fitness, preventing drug
and alcohol misuse, restricting smoking, and
preventing accidents and injury in the home
and workplace.
 SCOPE OF NURSING
PRACTICE
• PREVENTING ILLNESS

– The goal is to maintain optimal health

by preventing diseases
– Nursing activities includes
immunizations, prenatal and infant care,
and prevention of sexually transmitted
disease.
 SCOPE OF NURSING
PRACTICE
• RESTORING HEALTH

– Focuses on the ill client

– Extends from early detection of disease to helping the
client during the recovery period
– NURSING ACTIVITIES:
• Providing direct care to the ill person: administering
medications, baths, and specific procedures and treatments
• Providing diagnostic and assessment procedures:
measuring BP and examining feces for occult blood
• Consulting with other health care professionals about
client’s problems
• Teaching clients about recovery activities: exercise that will
accelerate recovery after a stroke
• Rehabilitating clients to their optimal functional level
following physical or mental illness, injury, or chemical
addiction
 SCOPE OF NURSING
PRACTICE
• CARE OF THE DYING

– Involves comforting and caring for people of all

ages who are dying
– Includes helping clients live as comfortable as
possible until death and helping support
persons cope with death.
– Work in homes, hospitals, and extended care
facilities
– Hospices are specifically designed for this
purpose.
 CONSENT
• KINDS OF CONSENT:
– Informed Consent
– Implied Consent

• INFORMED CONSENT
– Agreement by the client to accept a course of treatment or a
procedure after complete information, including the risk of
treatment and facts relating to it, has been provided by the
physician

– ELEMENTS OF INFORMED CONSENT:

• Consent must be given voluntarily
• Consent must be given by an individual with the capacity,
competence, and understanding.
• The client must be given enough information to be the ultimate
decision maker.
 CONSENT
– NURSE’S RESPONSIBILITY
• Witnessing the exchange between the client and the
physician.
• Establish that the client really did understand, that is, was
really informed
• Witnessing the client’s signature

– PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PROVIDE

CONSENT:
• Minors – below 18 years old; except for married and
already a parent
• Mentally ill
• Unconscious or injured in such a way that they are unable
to give consent.

• IMPLIED CONSENT
– In a life threatening situations and consent can not be