The Field

Nurses help individuals, families, and groups to promote, maintain, or restore optimal health within the context of their environments. Nursing practice requires substantial specialized knowledge of nursing and related scientific, behavioral, and humanistic disciplines. It also involves the development and implementation of strategies of care to accomplish defined goals and the evaluation of responses to care and treatment. Nursing includes the performance of services that promote and support optimal functioning across the life span, collaboration with other members of the health team, health counseling and teaching, the provision of comfort measures, teaching and supervising others, and participation in research contributing to the expansion of nursing knowledge.

The many areas of nursing include community health nursing, parent-child nursing, medical-surgical nursing, rehabilitation nursing, and mental health nursing.

As the complexities of health care have increased and as nurses’ responsibilities have expanded, a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in nursing is essential for today’s professional nurse.