A nurse is someone who cares for and protects the health of people. They may work in a hospital or clinic setting where they help patients get better or in an elder care facility where they work with people who are recovering from an illness or injury. Some nurses specialize in adult health and education while others work mainly with children. Regardless of what specialty they choose, they all share the common goal of keeping their patients healthy.
While a nurse’s job is generally thought of as a clinical one, it also includes a lot of writing. When a nurse processes a patient’s order, they are often expected to document what they’ve done in the form of a professional journal article. But what exactly does a nurse ‘do’ on the job? Let’s take a look.
Administrative Tasks
Nurses have a lot of administrative responsibilities which include keeping track of patient records, ordering and delivering necessary supplies, keeping the facility clean, and a lot more. These responsibilities require a lot of paperwork which the nurse must follow through on. For instance, they must log their time and actions, maintain accurate records of all medications administered to the patient, and send out routine status reports to doctors and other hospital staff members. All of this can be extremely time-consuming so the nurse must be detail-oriented and accurate.
Clinical Tasks
A nurse’s main responsibilities are to provide patient care in a medical setting. These responsibilities include taking a patient’s vital signs, administering medications, and helping the patient get through treatments and recoveries. While many people think of nurses as being clinical in nature due to their frequent contact with patients, a nurse’s tasks also involve a lot of paperwork. For instance, when a nurse processes a prescription, they are often expected to enter the details into a medical record and follow up by creating a professional journal article about the interaction. This article is then submitted for publication in a clinical journal.
Research Tasks
Nurses are also expected to conduct research and generate new knowledge. As professional nurses, they will have access to a huge amount of medical literature and be expected to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in their field. In order to do this, they must read a lot and generate lots of notes and ideas which can then be organized into a coherent and compelling argument. For example, when conducting research on a medication or treatment protocol, the nurse must consider what other medications or treatments are already being used to treat the same condition, the benefits of the new intervention, and potential side effects. This type of research can be extremely time-consuming and require a lot of detailed note-taking so the nurse must be detail-oriented and have an excellent memory.
Productive Tasks
A nurse’s responsibilities are not just limited to patient care. They must also be willing and able to perform other tasks as necessary including but not limited to:
- Ordering products (medications, lab tests, supplies, etc.)
- Maintaining accurate records
- Generating income (e.g., by selling medical equipment or drugs)
- Fundraising (e.g., for charity or fundraising events)
- Processing paperwork (e.g., medical records, insurance claims, etc.)
- Training others (e.g., doctors, pharmacists, etc.) in medical procedures
- Scheduling appointments, tests, and procedures
- Conducting clinical studies (for professional journals)
- Presenting scientific data (at conferences or published in professional journals)
In summary, a nurse’s responsibilities can include a lot of different tasks and require them to perform them accurately and in a timely manner. This means they must be detail-oriented and organized.
How does all of this writing fit into the picture? While many people think of a nurse’s job as being limited to patient care and related tasks, these people obviously haven’t worked with a nurse who manages to fit a lot into their day. When completing their daily responsibilities, nurses must follow the same steps required of any other professional writer including but not limited to:
- Elicit relevant facts and circumstances (including medical jargon) from the given topic (usually a disease or medication)
- Create an outline of the material you’ll need to write the piece
- Gather your notes on the topic
- Choose a style and format for your paper (i.e., Which Journals are You Submitting to?)
- Write the draft (only a few hundred words is acceptable)
- Edit and reorganize the text to fit your outline
- Proofread and publish the final product
So, what kind of writing does a nurse do on the job? It depends on what kind of nurse you ask. Some nurses focus on administration and paperwork while others focus on patient care. Regardless of which one you end up exploring, you’ll be able to find a ton of resources including books, journals, and websites. And if you really want to dig deep into the topic, you can always contact a professional organization or educational institution for research papers on the subject.