At a time when H1N1 or swine flu is predicted to be rampant this cold season, it‘s timely to be reminded of basic nursing skills for those providing health care in nursing homes and hospitals. Nursing professionals also advise practicing prevention at home—given that an ounce of prevention is worth pounds of cure later.

Basic Nursing Skills

Dr. Viki Chaudrue, a clinical nursing lecturer at Sonoma State University’s Department of Nursing and a Distance Educator for Indiana State University’s School of Nursing advises, “In order to develop excellent “hands on” skills, the nurse must employ all their senses.  I teach my students to not only focus on what they’re seeing but smelling, hearing and feeling, as well.”

Inventor of the popular Medical Memory Cards that help nurses learn and retain the vast amount of medical information they must know (for example in treating disease pathology), Dr. Chaudrue asks, “Do you ever wonder why pediatric patients spit liquid prednisone back at you?” (Note: Prednisone, a corticosteroid, is used to treat allergic disorders and other inflammatory conditions.) Her answer: “Taste a bit of it, it’s awful!!”

That’s why she asserts, “I’ve learned not to disregard what I’m sensing. I trust my intuition; it has kept my patients from disasters even when all of their vital signs appeared normal.”

Obviously, the art and science of nursing is more than taking the patient’s pulse and in administering medication.

It’s not quite different today from when Florence Nightingale wrote her seminal, Notes on Nursing, published in December 1859. 15,000 copies were sold in that first month alone. The author was 39 then, and had experienced over 14 years of nursing practice, including serving in the Crimean War.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing, placed emphasis on always serving patients and their needs, first and foremost.

“Communication skills and the conveyance of caring is central to patient care,” notes Dr. Renee Kidd-Marshall, Assistant Professor at Indiana State University’s Department of Baccalaureate Nursing. “This role is fundamental to nursing and should be maintained as a primary focus.”

Dr. Kidd-Marshall also advocates an interdisciplinary approach and “the execution of safe practice at all levels of interaction.”

Paradoxically, Ms. Nightingale, in setting to pen her Notes on Nursing didn’t set out to write a professional training manual for nurses. Her goal was to help women who shouldered the responsibilities of care giving to think how to stay the course of wellness for their families—by staying healthy to begin with.

The author advocated that the very first canon of nursing is to keep the air as pure as possible. As important is cleanliness—by keeping rooms and carpets sanitary, the furniture dusted and cleaned often and observing what else needed cleaning up.

Observation is Key for Good Nurses

“The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe—how to observe—what symptoms to indicate improvement—what the reverse—which are of importance—which are of none—which are the evidence of neglect—and of what kind of neglect,” Florence Nightingale wrote.

Adding, “But if you cannot get the habit of observation one way or other, you had better give up being a nurse, for it is not your calling, however kind and anxious you may be.”

So how does a modern nurse develop her or his powers of observation? Dr. Patricia Benner identifies five stages in her book, From Novice to Expert: 1) novice, 2) advanced beginner, 3) competent, 4) proficient and 5) the expert. http://www.sonoma.edu/users/n/nolan/n312/benner.htm

140 years later, the rules of good hygiene for disease prevention are just as valid, and priceless advice for those aspiring to nursing school. And as well, for anyone wanting to stay healthy by observing common sense precautions—especially in the face of a global swine flu epidemic.

Tags: Nursing School, Patient Care, why observing is important in nursing