The Role Of The Nurse In Rehabilitation
"Rehabilitation is an aspect of every nurses practice and as such warrants close consideration", Mallik et al (1998), p645.
According to the above quote, every nurse adopts the role of rehabilitator and for the purpose of this essay I intend to critically analyse the nurses role within the area of rehabilitation. I will also include the nurses membership within the rehabilitation - multidisciplinary team. Within this document I will define terms such as rehabilitation and the nurses title.
Does the nurse have a role in the rehabilitation process? According to research the role of the nurse in the rehabilitation setting has been under close scrutiny for many years by many professions, it is for this reason that I intend to discuss the issue by analysing various researchers views.
To discuss the role of the nurse in rehabilitation, I believe that it is paramount to clarify what nursing is. Nursing can be described in many ways and has been referred to as being multifaceted which the International Council for Nurses (1973) in Benson & Duncanis (1995) agreed saying that "the unique function of a nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance to these activities contributing to health or its recovery (or a peaceful death) that they would perform strength, will or knowledge. And to do this in such a way as to help him/her gain independence as rapidly as possible".
This quote suggests that the nurses role is to promote independence and to enable or empower the patient to adopt new skills, knowledge and where possible, to carry out everyday tasks such as washing and dressing. In other words "rehabilitating" them. This reinforces the views of Mallik et al (1998). So why is the literature debating the nurses role in rehabilitation? I intend to reveal this matter fully, but firstly I will describe the nurses role in general to form a foundation for this essay. The rehabilitation nurse works with...
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