Nursing

Nurses working in the hospital have the following grades:

a student nurse – a nurse who is still in training

a staff nurse – a nurse who has completed the training course

a charge nurse (sister) – an experienced nurse who is in charge of a ward or a department

a nurse manager (matron) – a nurse who is responisble for several wards

The old term “sister” is still sometimes used for a female charge nurse (e.g. Dr James is talking to Sister Watkins)

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A female nurse manager may be called “matron”.

A WARD - one of the parts into which a hospital is divided (a geriatric/maternity/psychiatric ward)

Like doctors, nurses can specialise:

A midwife has specialised from the beginning by doing a course in midwifery (the management of pregnancy and childbirth).

District nurses visit patients in their homes.

Health visitors work in the community, giving advice on the promotion of health and the prevention of illness.

The clinical support worker, who has done a short course and obtained basic qualifications, and the nursing auxiliary, who is usually unqualified, both assist nursing staff.

The ward clerks make sure patients’ notes and information are up to date. They also answer the telephone.

The nurse’s role has changed considerably in recent years. In addition to general patient care, checking temperatures, pulse rates and blood pressures, changing dressings, giving injections and removing sutures, nurses now do some of the things previously reserved for doctors, such as prescribing drugs and ordering laboratory tests. More responsibility for nurses is planned. In Scotland the nurses trained to perform minor surgery have entered the operating theatre for the the first time in an effort to cut patient waiting times (lists). Five nurses who have passed a new course at Glasgow Caledonian University are now qualified to carry out such procedures as the removal of small lesions, benign moles and cysts.