what is nursing

Nursing is a profession within the healthcare sector that focuses on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses provide care to individuals of all ages, families, groups, and communities, sick or well, and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled, and dying people. Nurses also play a critical role in health care and are often the first to detect health emergencies and work on the front lines of disease prevention and the delivery of primary health care. Nursing can be described as both an art and a science, with a fundamental respect for human dignity and an intuition for a patients needs. Nurses complete a rigorous program of extensive education and study, and work directly with patients, families, and communities using the core values of the nursing process. The nursing process is made up of five steps: evaluate, implement, plan, diagnose, and assess. Nursing is the most diverse of all healthcare professions, and nurses share with other health professionals and those in other sectors of public service the functions of planning, implementation, and evaluation to ensure the adequacy of the health system for promoting health, preventing illness, and caring for ill and disabled people.