UNIT- ONE

INTRODUCTION TO NURSING

Prepared
PREPARED BY byPRE
RENUKA ADHIKARI
LECTURER
 CONTENTS

UNIT I
1.1 Definition of Nurse and Nursing
-Qualities of a good nurse
-Philosophy, Scope and trend of nursing
-Factors influencing in nursing
-Role, responsibilities of nurse
1.2 History of Nursing
-History of Nursing in the world
-History of Nursing in Nepal
1.3 Ethical and Legal concept in nursing
-Ethical and Ethical principles
-Ethical and legal responsibilities of the nurse
-NNC/ICN code of ethics
1.4 Consumers/professional protection; pt’s
right/Nurses right
1.1 DEFINITION OF NURSE
AND
Nursing
 Nurse

• The word nurse came from the Latin word

Nutritious, which means nourish, foster and
protect.

• Nurse is one who cares for sick, injured and

physically, mentally & emotionally disabled.
 Nurse contd

• According to American Nursing Association

"Nurse is a person educated and licensed in the practice of

nursing ; one who is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment
of human responses to actual and potential health problems."
 Nurse contd

• A nurse is a person who has completed a program of

basic nursing education and in qualified and authorized
in his/her country to provide responsible and
competent professional services for the promotion of
health, prevention of illness, care of the sick and
rehabilitation of the disabled.
 NURSING

• Nursing is a profession within the health

care sector focused on the care of
individuals, families, and communities so
they may attain, maintain or recover
optimal health and quality of life.
 NURSING...

• As a science, nursing is based on a

body of knowledge that is always
changing with new discoveries and
innovations.

• Nursing is the care which puts a

person in the best possible
condition for nature to restore or
preserve health, to prevent or to
care disease or injury.
Florence Nightingale
 Nursing (contd

• Nursing is assisting the individual , sick or well, to

perform those activities contributing to health or
recovery that he would perform unaided, if he had the
necessary strength, will or knowledge and to do this in
such a way as to help him gain independence as rapidly
as possible.
Virginia Henderson
• Nursing is an art and science based on knowledge,
skill and attitude, aimed at assisting the individual,
the family and community in health and illness, to
maintain health, to prevent illness, to alleviate
physical, biological and psychological pain, to avoid
complication and to fulfill self-reliance in meeting
daily health needs.

WHO
 What is nursing???
– Nursing is caring

– Nursing is an art

– Nursing is a science

– Nursing is client centered

– Nursing is holistic

– Nursing is adaptive

– Nursing is concerned with health promotion,

health maintenance and health restoration

– Nursing is a helping profession.

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QUALITIES OF A GOOD NURSE
QUALITIES
OF A GOOD
NURSE
 Qualities Of a Good Nurse
• Nursing differs from other professions its humanitarian aspects. The nurse first has
interest in people, and in understanding human behaviour, has concern over human
and ability to empathize are basic qualities required of a nurse.

• A good nurse has a friendly disposition, charitable, resourceful, operative and

takes responsibility with native. Minimum essential skills of a nurse are
observation, communication, leaving besides supportive and essential skills. She
must have abilities to make interpretations, make judgments and take decisions.
 QUALITIES OF A GOOD NURSE

 Honesty
 Well- balanced
 Tactful
 Discipline
 Creativity
 Healthy
 Intelligent
 Courageous
 Good personality
 Friendly and Helpful
 Empathy and Sympathy
 Poise
 Clean and Pleasant appearance
 Interested
 Good Listener
 Honesty

• Truthful and sincere

• Essential for establishing harmonious
relationship with the patient and their relatives
and with the team members.
• In some situation nurse has to be very
cautions in telling the truth.
• A nurse must learn to accept her mistakes
although it is difficult. It will help her to
become an honest professional.
 Well Balanced

• Means ability to control oneself in either situation which

may be either stressful or embarrassing or elated.
• One should be able to balance oneself in professional as
well as in personal life.
• Well balance nurse can behave with dignity and
gracefully.
 Tactful

• It is the ability of an individual to handle the situation.

• A nurse must be sensitive to the needs and feelings of the
patient and should deal accordingly.
• She should be able to cope with any kind of situation
without any difficulties.
 Discipline

• Every nurse should be well disciplined,

self controlled and must have the habit of
obedience to a set of rules and regulations
set by an organization or a system.
 Creative

• Creativity is a divine power which brings change in mind

for the repeated manifestation.
• A nurse must be creative , be able to act with the new
ideas to provide comfort to the patients.
 Healthy

• A nurse must be physically and mentally healthy.

• Her sound health influences her work.
• She looks smart and pleasant and will be able to organize
her work properly and confidently.
• A healthy nurse only can look after sick people to maintain
good health.
 Intelligent

• Intelligent means having power of perceiving

,learning, understanding ,knowing and
reasoning.
• It is the mental ability of an individual to react
in correct way in the particular situation.
• Nurses should be able to make right
decision in right time understanding the
patient’s condition and situation.
 Courageous

• Nurse must be courageous enough to handle the difficult

situation, should be brave and bold .
• Patient care and patient’s welfare must be the nurse’s
single priority.
• Nurses should show boldness in making decision in
difficult situation.
 Good Personality

• Personality implies certain physical and mental traits of an

individual.
• A good looking and pleasant appearance is a tonic to ill
patients.
• So nurses must be well groomed , neat and clean and
should have pleasant appearance.
 Friendly and Helpful

• Nurse as an individual must be friendly ,receptive and

always willing to help the patient ,family and the relatives
of the patients.

• She must be devoted in her profession ,loyal to her job,

patient and the coworkers.
 Empathy and Sympathy

• Empathy is ability to recognize, share emotions and

states of mind of the patient, understand, meaning and
signifies of his/her behaviors which helps the nurse to
understand and gain trustworthiness and acceptance of
the patient resulting acceptance in care being provided.
• Sympathy is expressed interest of concern regarding the
problem, emotions and mental status of others.
Empathy and Sympathy…
 Poise

• A nurse must have calm and confident manner with

control of ones feeling and behavior.
• She must be able to control her emotions even under
pressure or in difficult circumstances for physical and
psychological welfare of the patients.
 Clean and pleasant appearance

• Clean and pleasant appearance should

always be practiced as it makes deep
sense of impression upon other as well as
her own self and inside feelings.
 Interest in others

• Interest means having special liking for some

objects or show concern to something.
• Without keen interest Nurse cannot perform
her job well .
• Interest promotes desires to do job in better
way and use time fruitfully without wasting .
• Interest is a quality a nurse must have which
enables her to achieve the goal.
 Good Listener

• Nurse must be a good

listener, should be a
person who listens or
whom the patient can rely
on to hear their problems
and will be able to make
the correct decision based
on patient’s feelings and
need.
 Others Qualities…
Respect for human dignity
Self sacrifice for the common goals,
 Accepts and tries to understand people of all
kind, regardless of race, religion and color
Have the basic knowledge, skills and
attitudes necessary to address present day
social problems, realistic and well organized
thoughts through the use of critical thinking.
Has skills in using written and spoken
language both to develop own thoughts and
to communicate them to others.
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