Go ahead and downvote me for this, but the medical field in the US especially when it comes to RNs needs a shake up. This is going to sound very crass, but the only skill that your average person on the street doesn’t have that nurses have is to stick a needle in a vein and that’s something that can be taught to a lay person over a week. Pretty much everything else are skills that any person off the street possesses and we would do well to have a lower bar for entry for it.
Nurses change dressings. Insert catheters. Move heavy patients without hurting themselves. Prepare equipment for surgery. Ensure the sterile field is maintained. Operate specialized equipment. Triage medical emergencies.
And about a million other things that the average person doesn't know how to do.
Yeah, I was relying on anecdotal experience so I went and looked it up and they do an incredible amount. Well, it’s too late though I can’t modify or delete my comment anymore.
