German Nursing Role Analysis

Germany had a very large and well organized nursing service, with three main organizations, one for Catholics, one for Protestants, and the DRK (Red Cross). In 1934 the Nazis set up their own nursing unit, the Brown Nurses, absorbing one of the smaller groups, bringing it up to 40,000 members. It set up kindergartens, hoping to seize control of the minds of the younger Germans, in competition with the other nursing organizations. Civilian psychiatric nurses who were Nazi party members participated in the killings of invalids, although the process was shrouded in euphemisms and denials.

Military nursing was primarily handled by the DRK, which came under partial Nazi control. Front line medical services were provided by male medics and doctors.

Nurses are often in close and frequent contact with patients, families, caregivers and the community. However, our expertise is not fully substantiated if we only confine ourselves to roles related to traditional patient care without positively influencing the health-promoting behaviours of our clientele.

Today, nurses should never limit their nursing responsibilities to what was learned in nursing school. Nurses need to work proactively to be sure that our roles are also seen as health promoters and prevention specialists. Nurses need to see their roles as holistic and expand their view of nursing. We must learn other new skills that are considered integral to contemporary nurse practice. Nurses must be multi-disciplinary. The skills they need to acquire include emergency care, illness assessment, psycho-social nursing, counselling, behavioural science, health promotion, statistical analysis, advocacy, presentation skills, political activity and knowledge, marketing, publicity, family intervention and community needs assessment. Today, nurses should see themselves as prime movers for change. We need to be alert to trends and changes in all sectors of society and understand how these could affect the health of the

What does it mean, really? How does someone promote health? I’m going to address the concept of health promotion from my perspective as a Registered Nurse in Ontario. Nurses play a huge role in illness prevention and health promotion. We, as nurses assume the role of ambassadors of wellness. Yes, I do believe that nurses play just as an important role in caring for the well as they do in caring for the sick. Perhaps caring for the well is the more important role. In this day and age of budget cuts, cost reduction and staffing shortages, health promotion makes sense. If we can preserve wellness, we reduce the number of times a person needs to enter the health-care system, thus reducing