The Work of a Nurse

Where are you most likely to meet a nurse? At your doctor’s office. Nurses in medical offices typically assist the doctor by asking you about your symptoms, taking your temperature and blood pressure, checking your weight, and collecting blood or urine samples for laboratory tests. Doctor’s office nurses are also usually educators as well, making sure patients understand their illness and know how to take any medicine that’s prescribed.

You’ll also find nurses:

o At your school:School nurses give the first medical aid to kids with stomachaches, chickenpox, nosebleeds, and bumps and bruises. But they also have the important job of promoting good health. How do they do it? School nurses do vision, hearing, and scoliosis screenings and teach kids how to take care of themselves through good nutrition, exercise, and hygiene. They also help kids with special conditions, like diabetes, by teaching them about their condition and monitoring them.

o At the hospital: Hospital nurses provide round-the-clock patients’ care. They monitor a patient’s vital signs, give medicine, draw blood, and work closely with doctors and families to keep everyone up to date on a patient’s condition. Some nurses even work in the operating rooms assisting the surgeons.

o In your neighbourhood: Some nurses work directly in the community. These nurses teach people with special health problems like diabetes or asthma how to manage their conditions. They also might travel to a person’s home to provide care for those who are too elderly or sick to leave.

Whatever type of work they do, the best nurses have one thing in common: they like interacting with people. That’s because nurses do more than provide practical health care. They also give patients and their families compassionate support at a time when they need it most. Nurses are educated to care for the whole person, not just treat whatever health issue somebody has.

It’s well known that the majority of nurses are women, but today more and more men are joining the ranks of male nurses in the medical field.

Nurses are important people. They do their job in all kinds of places – from local hospitals to faraway military bases. Some even work in the sky or at sea, helping to transport sick people on planes or caring for passengers on ships. In fact, anywhere in the world you can find someone who needs health care, you can probably find a nurse.

1. What are the duties of nurses working in medical offices?

2. Do school nurses assist surgeons during surgical operations? What do they do?

3. What special conditions do they also help kids with?

4. Hospital nurses don’t provide round-the-clock patient care, do they?

5. What are the duties of hospital nurses?

6. Do any nurses work directly in the community?

7. What do the best nurses usually have in common?

8. Are nurses educated to care for the whole person or just for his health?

9. Do men or women choose the profession of a nurse more often?

10. Where else can you find a nurse?

Vocabulary and Speech Exercises

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1913