ETV Classics
Jobman Caravan: Nursing Occupations (1981)
Season 9 Episode 6 | 29m 9sVideo has Closed Captions
This episode explores nursing careers, their duties, demand, and education requirements.
This episode of Jobman Caravan highlights the growing demand for nursing careers. Four types of nurses discuss their roles, daily duties, and experiences working in a hospital. They also share the educational requirements and what inspired them to pursue nursing.
ETV Classics is a local public television program presented by SCETV
Support for this program is provided by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.
ETV Classics
Jobman Caravan: Nursing Occupations (1981)
Season 9 Episode 6 | 29m 9sVideo has Closed Captions
This episode of Jobman Caravan highlights the growing demand for nursing careers. Four types of nurses discuss their roles, daily duties, and experiences working in a hospital. They also share the educational requirements and what inspired them to pursue nursing.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship♪ ♪ ♪ Hi, and welcome to another session of the Job Man Caravan.
I'm Bill Terrell.
The Job Man Caravan is a television show designed to bring you job information, community information, and plenty of entertainment.
And today, on the Job Man Caravan, we'll take a look at nursing occupations.
♪ Entertainment from Dynasty.
♪ And Captain Sky.
♪ If you desire to help and care for people, if you're looking for a job that you can perform in a variety of settings, and if you're looking for a career with numerous employment possibilities in any state in this country, then the nursing profession may be the answer for you.
The nursing profession is one of a few professions where the demand for qualified workers exceeds the supply in this state, and in many other states, there's a shortage of people to care for the sick and injured in our hospitals and other health care facilities.
Nursing personnel consist of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nursing technicians and nursing assistants.
These workers account for over half the total number of health service employees.
And without them, the health service team would not be complete.
Nursing technicians.
The largest group of nursing personnel perform routine functions so that registered and licensed practical nurses are free to do tasks that require more technical and professional training.
The specific responsibilities of the technician depend on such factors as the kind and size of the institution or agency, the type of patients, the availability of supervisory personnel, and the capacity and resourcefulness of the technicians.
>> My duties as a nurse and technician is a system patient with AM care and also under sterile dressings on sterile dressings to trach care and assisting patients in and out of bed, transporting patients from one room to the other, and consist of a lot of, you know, patient care mostly the education requirements of becoming a nursing technician who has complete the fundamentals of nursing of an approved nursing school of nursing.
Bill> Nursing technicians should be tactful, patient, understanding, and most of all, they should have a genuine desire to help people.
Persons planning to become technicians should apply for volunteer work and temporary summer jobs in hospitals and similar institutions.
Courses in home nursing and first aid offered by many school systems and community agencies are also helpful.
You're on the job, man.
Caravan.
This week we're taking a look at nursing occupations.
When we return, we'll be taking a look at licensed practical Nurses.
It's all happening right here on your show.
The Job Man Caravan where we present Dynasty.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Bill> Regardless of where they work, licensed practical nurses LPNs are concerned with the care and well-being of their patients.
Those who work in hospitals in specialized units perform special nursing procedures and operate sophisticated equipment to provide care for the seriously ill or injured.
>> I have been in nursing for 24 years.
I've always been a person that I like people, and I've always wanted to help people, and I couldn't afford, you know, to be a doctor.
I received my training back in 1963 at the Good Samaritan Naval Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina.
So I tried to get in nursing training.
They said they wouldn't accept males at that time because of what I did.
I went and talked to the instructor, and she said that she would take if I could get another one to go in there with me.
It took me a while and I finally found a friend to go in with me, and he ran the evening with me and he stayed in for two weeks and he quit because he said he couldn't take the pressure of names, you know, they give you a hard time.
Bill> LPNs, who work in clinics and doctor's offices, prepare patients for examinations and treatment, administer medications apply dressings and teach patients prescribed health regimens, >> I decided to go into the field of nursing.
Because I enjoy helping people and because the job field was one that will always be open, there always be job opportunities.
The LPN works in the hospital setting is usually under the supervision.
of an RN and supervisors here in the doctor's office and limited supervision of the physician.
I work crossing closely with the physician in carrying out his orders and monitoring the health of the patients and the doctor's office.
I have, more, better opportunity to use my skills as a nurse.
And, sure, more opportunities to do a wider range of, duties for those in the hospital.
The LPN staff as well, to, in order to the color license plate glass line was first finished high school and then, according to what, school, you decide to achieve the nurse's trade, you'll have to pass the entrance exams and then, into whatever school you decide to go to.
People will be he held for you.
I attended the last, the of the Richland Memorial's license, practical nursing course, I started at Spring Valley High School when I was a senior in high school.
We could take credits toward our nursing there in high school.
That would help us towards our high school diploma and, I took the second year at the Richland Memorial Hospital School of Nursing.
Well, first, while the doctors office is the setting that I'm more comfortable with, An LPN can go into a number of areas that she chooses to work in, the hospital is happy to find that I more comfortable working in the physician's office.
I have an opportunity to do, a number a great deal more things in, I get a great deal more experience here in the office.
I do the blood work.
I do EKGs injections and patient education.
So I have, a lot more experience here in the doctor's office.
Anyone who is thinking of going to any health professions following up on science as law school, that's still important, because going to be dealing with the human body in there should be some knowledge and understanding of the human body.
And we certainly should be interested in sciences.
Bill> You're on the Job Man Caravan, and we're helpful and hopeful and thankful that you are.
And on the Job Man Caravan, we're taking a look at nursing occupations.
Now when we return with our look at nursing occupations on the Job Man Caravan, we'll be taking a look at registered nurses.
We've been talking about, licensed practical nurses.
And we've been talking of course, we will be talking about registered nurses.
And we'll have something for you about nursing technicians and nursing assistants, all for you on the Job Man Caravan an occupation that's not only interesting, but also service to humankind.
And that is helping the sick and those that are injured.
But right now, entertainment wise, on the Job Man Caravan.
Let's meet and greet Captain Sky for you right here.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Hi.
My name is Julia Walker, and I'm presently a senior here at USC majoring in nursing.
And I would like to just talk with you for a little while to let you know what it takes for you to pursue a career in nursing.
A lot of people have asked me.
I said, Julia, why would you want to go into nursing?
And the only thing that I can tell them is that, it's really something that I want to do.
I enjoy helping people.
I enjoy communicating with people, and I also enjoy educating people on how to maintain their health.
And, you know, and not just coming to the hospital and getting well after they've been ill.
I would say it, it really starts, you know, you can start like, right in high school by taking such courses as biology, chemistry, sociology, psychology, as well as math and English.
It's very important.
After you get to the college it's basically the same courses that you take while you're in high school.
That's why it's good to have some of that basic knowledge from high school to give you, you know, enough.
It'll give you what it takes in order to survive in this college community.
Like, you have your sociologist, your psychology, and, your anatomy and physiology, your pharmacology.
You're going to need that good background from which you can build upon when you get here in nursing.
After I'm finished here at the University, I take the state board in July, and you have to pass the state boards with the, I guess, the standard score that they have to say that you have successfully passed that and then you'll be given a certificate for being a registered nurse.
You'll be certified.
I'm going to work at Baptist Hospital alone on some the street for about a year.
After that, trying to decide whether or not I want to continue on working there for a while to gain some experience or go back to school and get my master's, perhaps in community health, or be a nurse practitioner.
Because like in the small community where I'm from, it's like community type things and they have clinics.
And I wanted to give my practice toward that to what my community, to high school students who want to pursue a career in nursing.
I would say it takes discipline.
You have to really set, you know, your limits, and you have to really set your priority.
And you have to develop a pattern of study.
You have to really condition yourself because, like, I know when I was in high school, I didn't study that much, but it changes when you get here.
You can't just memorize, you know, you really have to have some of that knowledge within you because you're going to be learning how to apply it to everyday situation.
And after all, you'll be dealing with human lives.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> The duties of a registered nurse are numerous.
First of all, one of the main duties is just patient care and bedside patient care.
And giving medications.
Patient, A lot of patient teaching is done.
You're involved with the patient's family a lot.
You know, patient... teaching the patient's family about the patient's disease or process how the patient's doing.
A lot of paperwork is involved.
Most of it.
Half of it, I'd say, is paperwork.
Just keeping up with your notes and, you know, making sure everything is documented.
You know, clearly, a lot of talking with the physicians, like a patient advocate between the patient and the physician.
Sometimes you're in charge.
And when you're in charge, you have to account for everything that's going on with the flow, you not only have to account for just your patient, but you have to account for all the patients that are there.
You have to know what's going on with each patient.
You have to be able to help the other staff nurses.
If you know problems come up.
There's a shortage of nurses, from my standpoint, probably because of pay, mostly.
And the pay, it's okay, but it's for the work that you do and the stress and the strain that you, you go through at times you wondered if you're getting, you know, paid enough.
You know, I think that nurses are underpaid a lot for what they do and the responsibilities that they have.
I think nurses beginning salary now is maybe somewhere about 12,000.
You know, in this area, 12,000 a year.
And that's not bad, but it should be getting better.
Hopefully.
I think students who are pursuing nursing careers and who want to go to nursing school or to a four year college or whatever, I think they should really this is something they have to really want to do because nursing is not an easy profession.
You have to want to do it.
And it's a lot of work.
It's a lot of studying.
It's a lot of headaches.
You know, you have to want to do it and be determined.
And you have to give up a lot to do it.
I mean, you have to give up your weekends.
And when you become a nurse, you have to give up weekends.
You have to give up holidays.
You know, it's worth it because you can go just about anywhere you want to go and you'll get a job, even though it's not.
It might not be what you want at first, but you can get a job you know just about anywhere you want to go, but you just have to be determined if that's what you want to do.
♪ If you would like more information on nursing careers, write Job Man Caravan ETV Drawer L. Columbia, South Carolina 29250.
And a reminder you can use that address to write us.
We'd like to hear from you.
Just hear what you think of the show.
Some of the things that you'd like to see on the show, occupations wise, right here on the Job Man Caravan.
That's our program this week as we have taken a look at nursing occupations.
And one thing, if you're interested in helping people, if you're looking for a situation where the job market will be plentiful in terms of your being able to get a job, then the nursing occupations may be for you.
Till next week, I'm Bill Terrell Thank you for joining us.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
ETV Classics is a local public television program presented by SCETV
Support for this program is provided by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.