What are the goals of nursing?

Answer 1

The goals are in three phases:

1. Prevention of a problem. This would include things like vaccination, good sanitation, a good balanced diet, safety awareness.

2. Phase two is where a problem exists and the goal is to reduce the harm and limit damage. An example would be someone who had had good advice about obesity and a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle in Phase 1 then going on to develop Diabetes Type 2. You would have tried to prevent it in phase 1, but in phase 2, diabetes has developed and you have to try to work with the patient to limit the damage diabetes can cause.

3. Phase 3 is about where prevention and treatment have failed and all that is left is to pick up the pieces in rehab such as in a unit to rehabilitate survivors of strokes and help the patient to live as well as possible in a personal world that has changed completely and will never be 'normal' again. Here, a new 'normal' has to be found and the best made of a bad situation.

To summarise: Prevention. If prevention fails, dealing with a situation. If things get worse after that, its about picking up the pieces. Phase 1 actions often arise from lessons learned in phases 1 and 2. One aspect of nursing is to be constantly alert for learning and finding better ways of approaching things.