Despite of its popularity as a rewarding career that is respected by others, we all know that nursing is one of the most challenging careers ever. A nurse, along with administrating medicines, intravenous solutions, giving injections, taking the patient’s vitals has to perform a series of bizarre and unusual tasks that can make you feel sorry or feel otherwise for your own nursing career. It is natural for the patients to put all their faith in the nurse and help them recover from their sickness or injury. The role of the nurse is vital for the patients recovery as they are vulnerable and totally dependent on the nurse for certain tasks. Nurse not just simply trot up and down the corridors of the hospital or the nursing centers but are busy in performing the most strenuous and mundane of all tasks with immense amounts of care and love. For those inquisitive nurses in the training or those thinking about a career in nursing, it would be interesting to know the various unusual tasks that nurses have to perform in the line of duty.
Scratching Itches
Yes, a nurse’s daily tasks include scratching a lot of itches. A lot of patients with disabilities or due to their incapacitated state cannot move their limbs and are unable to perform tasks like scratching. A nurse should be ready to scratch the patient’s bellies, noses, ears and even feet.
Hearing Aids
When it comes to elderly patients, they are often hard at hearing and might need the help of nurses to keep reminding of using their hearing aids. Sometimes a nurse might have to help the patients to converse with visitors.
Fix Dentures
As bizarre as it might sound, but if you think about it then a nurse might have to help several patients fix their dental braces or dentures. Denture sets might have to be regularly cleaned before fixed.
Grooming the Patients
A nurse is not supposed to just tend to the patient’s medical needs, but is also responsible for the patient’s grooming and personal hygiene. If a patient’s personal hygiene is not kept in check it can cause a lot of infections and several other repercussions. Cutting the patient’s hair from time to time, combing, helping the patient with bath, dressing and staying clean. Wiping the patient’s rear is also a daily task, enough said.
Communicate
Nurses might have to do a lot of communication on the patient’s behalf. Hence, it is important that the nurses practice utmost vigilance and strive for competence during their training. It can be hard to understand the patient’s needs especially when a patient is elderly or disabled. A nurse might have to pass notes, help the patient write notes, hold the phone to their ears while they speak, take messages etc.
Feeding
When a person falls sick, they often tend to get moody and loss of appetite is common. A nurse might have to plead and persuade the patients to take their meals on time. Younger and the elderly patients can be tricky to deal with and the nurses need to practice a lot of patience while maintaining a cool and friendly demeanor so the patients feel comfortable and take their meals easily.
Entertainment
Life in a hospital or a nursing home often contains days of routine checkups and medical examinations, administration of medicines etc. and it can get extremely mundane. The nurses often might be asked to read to the patients, talk to them, watching TV with them and play board games. Patient entertainment is important for a patient’s smooth recovery.
While, the above list is just a small reminder of the various tasks that nurses might have to do on a daily basis. You can also visit FindCNAClasses.com and similar websites for more information about the daily nursing tasks and enroll in online CNA courses.
Liz Cook is a content contributor for several websites related to healthcare and the field of medicine. She like reading various literatures related to medicinal care, nursing etc. and knowing the latest development in the field of healthcare.
Photo by OnCall team, CC BY 2.0
