RN's constitute the largest group among all the health occupations. Most RN's work in acute care hospitals as hospital nurses. They care for patients at the hospital bedside, in private clinics, and in the patient's home. Nurses may also work to help prevent disease, to educate the public about health issues, to enhance public health, and to support ill patients both physically and mentally.
The definition of Nursing is always changing. In 1859, Florence Nightingale said, "The goal of nursing is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him, primarily by altering the environment.” Many people today still view a nurse's job as a primary care taker. But the health field has evolved immensely since 1859. When Florence Nightingale made her statement, nursing tasks consisted of housekeeping, meal preparation, and patient hygiene. Today's nurse does things that were done by only doctors less than forty years ago; tasks like taking blood pressure readings, changing dressings, physical examinations, giving injections, and handling machines and sophisticated monitors.
The responsibilities of a nurse will continue to grow, especially with the current changes in health care. The latest definition of nursing, by the American Nurses' Association, is "Nursing is the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems." Both of these definitions tell what nurses do for patients. The actual work that a nurse does will depend on what area of health care a nurse chooses. The setting a nurse chooses also has an impact on the type of work to be performed.