The Career of the Registered Nurse

The RN will encounter in her career a higher level of and more:

1. Responsibility:

A. Responsibility in planning and execution of care:

• The RN must bear the responsibility for independently planning nursing activities and interventions and interpreting and registering their effects. He/she must be able to diagnose cases on the basis of standards and choose nursing activities on the basis of that diagnose.
• The RN must be able to bear the responsibility for the execution and promotion, and providing information and advice.

B. Responsibility in the coordination and organization of care:

• The RN must bear the responsibility for the organization of the care with regard to individual patients. He/she can consult his/her discipline and other disciplines. He/she consults the professional who has charged him/her with the care when there are changes in the demand for care or in the situation that exceed his/her competence or responsibilities.

C. Responsibility in realizing pre-conditions:

• The RN must bear the responsibility for the pre-conditional tasks. He/she must also guide future and newly- appointed professionals from secondary vocational education in their work.

2. Complexity in care:

The RN must have a quick insight into the need for care of the patient and must be able to execute the necessary care efficiently and with flexibility. The emphasis is on planning and executing care in accordance with the standard procedures and combinations of (standard) procedures. Besides, he/she must be able to combine or think or procedures in the individual execution of care.

3. Transfer in care:

The nurse has gained more knowledge and skills that are specific for the nursing trade and in addition he/she has also gained more knowledge and skills that are non-specific for this.