Booklet for Nursing Profession by ProLink Staffing - Louisville KY
                     ProLink Staffing
Presents a booklet for Nursing Profession
About ProLink Staffing
At ProLink, not only do we help people find great jobs, we 
build lasting relationships with them and with our clients. 
We optimize workforces better than anyone else by being 
a true partner to our clients. We empower our teams with 
the right blend of independence and guidance so they can 
go further, personally, professionally and financially.
ProLink is the staffing partner you can count on to help you 
grow personally, professionally, and financially. ProLink 
has incredible opportunities across a variety of 
professional fields. 
Specialties:
Healthcare jobs consultants
Nursing jobs consultant
Technology jobs consultant
IT jobs consultant
Engineering jobs consultant

History of a Nurse
The definition of a nurse is one who cares for the sick or infirm, particularly in a hospital. But did you 
know that nurses have existed since the beginning of time? That’s right. Nursing is one of the world’s 
oldest professions. 
If you are thinking of becoming a nurse, sit back and read a tale about nursing that, as a profession, 
has evolved through the years to the current day. We begin our story in ancient times when becoming 
a nurse wasn't something you chose; the role of caregiver was instead decided for you. 
The Ancient Role of Nurse as Caregiver 
Ancient societies did many things differently. Deciding who would be a caregiver among tribes was no 
different. Take the Zuni tribe for example. The Zuni was a gathering of Native Americans that existed 
in the Southwest United States for thousands of years. The elders of the Zuni would make the 
decision for individuals to become nurses even before they had the ability to make that choice. They 
would mark babies as future nurses or caregivers if they were born with part of the placenta covering 
their face.
In many societies throughout the ancient world, nurses were mainly female, largely due to the fact that 
women traditionally provided nurturance to infants of their own. The word nurse itself is derived from 
the Latin word “nutrire,” which means ‘to suckle’, naturally referring to women who breastfeed.
Because there were no schools that taught nursing thousands of years ago, female caregivers would 
learn their trade through oral tradition, whereby the lessons were passed down through the 
generations.
A Nursing Program is Born in the 19th Century 
The Nurse Society of Philadelphia, an early 19th-century program, trained women in terms of caring 
for other mothers throughout childbirth and the postpartum period. The founder, Dr. Joseph 
Warrington, created a book with the title: The Nurse’s Guide Containing a Series of Instruction to 
Females who wish to Engage in the Important Business of Nursing Mother and Child in the Lying-In 
Chamber .
In this book, instructions were provided for women who wanted to know more about how to pursue 
nursing as an occupation.
Every Nurse Society received a copy of this book, which represents an early example of a nursing 
practice text. Approximately 50 nurses were employed by the Nurse Society between 1839 and 1850, 
establishing an early practice of engaging nurses in the care of patients in the home.
The Nursing Profession Expanded with Formal Education 
One drastic change the nursing profession adopted was the advent of formal education. The caring for 
the sick was traditionally undertaken within the home, whereby it fell upon the responsibility of 
neighbors, friends, and family with knowledge of healing practices to care for the sick or infirm.
That was until the late 19th century when the first training programs opened at hospitals around the 
country. Student nurses could receive clinical instruction in exchange for providing care to patients in 
need.
During this time, nurses assisted hospitals with making enormous improvements in terms of both 
quality of care and safety. Medical care also became more humanized than at any other time in the 
past.
If you are interested in working in this rewarding yet challenging field, getting the right education is a 
must, so it makes sense to start with ProLink Staffing. We can start you on the path to becoming the 
best nursing professional you can be.

How to Become a Nurse
As baby boomers age and the need for healthcare grows, hospitals around the country continue to face 
a nursing shortage. 
That means there’s never been a better time to become a nurse! 
Before you embark on this lucrative and rewarding career, there are a few points you should consider. 
This advice is meant to help you expedite the process of becoming a nurse and ease the transition as 
you go from nurse-hopeful to actually assisting patients' bedside. 
Get into the Mindset of Nursing
Make sure that nursing is the right career choice for you. As a nurse, you are under a lot of pressure to 
care for your patients in a high-stress environment. That being said, there are few careers as rewarding 
as nursing. If you commit to helping people, and enjoy interacting with others, you’ll have an easier time 
managing the long hours and staying calm under pressure. Just be aware of all that goes into the job 
before you commit to the schooling, licensure exam, and everything else that goes into qualifying as a 
registered nurse.
Decide Your Educational Path
There are many educational paths to becoming a nurse. Because the demand for nursing is so great, a 
number of nursing schools have emerged to educate and prepare a new generation of students for a 
future in nursing. 
You might choose an ADN program, which will help you secure an associate’s degree in nursing. Or 
maybe you’re more geared toward the four-year BSN program, which will yield a bachelor’s degree in 
nursing. If you already have an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree in another field, there are also 
accelerated programs you can take to obtain your BSN in nursing in record time.
With more hospitals preferring to hire nurses with BSN degrees, it pays to put one of those programs 
along your educational path. Do your research to find the educational path that best aligns with your 
nursing career ambitions. 
Then there is the master of science in nursing (MSN), which is a higher-level degree. The MSN can be 
helpful if you hope to grow your career beyond patient care. Many master’s degree programs focus on 
education, leadership, and the business side of the medical field. 
Apply to an Accredited Nursing School
Fulfill All Nursing School Prerequisites 
Graduate from Nursing School! Congrats!
Apply for Your RN License 
Pass the NCLEX
Find Your First Nursing Job 
 You can accelerate your job search by partnering with a healthcare staffing agency such as ProLink 
Healthcare Staffing.
Apply with ProLink to Fulfill Your Nursing Career Goals! 
At ProLink, we can pair you with a nursing recruiter who is motivated to match your job goals with an 
available position in the field you want. Whether you have an ADN, BSN, or master’s in nursing, we can 
help you find fast placement at the facility of your choice, anywhere in the country. Get started today by 
calling (866)777-3704.

Nursing Roles
Working as a nurse is a career that is incredibly rewarding. However, it can also be very 
challenging. One of the reasons for this is that a nurse has to take on many different roles. With 
that being said, in this post, we are going to take a look at the different roles of a nurse below so 
you can get a better understanding. This should help you to know what to expect as a nurse.
The main role that a nurse has is to care and advocate for individuals, supporting them through any 
health battles or illnesses they are experiencing. However, there are a number of other roles that 
nurses have, which includes the following:
• Providing advice and support to patients
• Educating patients about managing illnesses
• Performing diagnostic tests
• Operating medical equipment
• Administering treatments and medications
• Monitoring patient health and recording any symptoms and signs
• Advocating for the wellbeing and health of patients
• Collaborating with teams to plan for patient care
• Recording medical history and symptoms
Different roles for different nursing specialisms 
Hopefully, the different elements that we have looked at above have helped you to get a better 
understanding of the roles of a nurse. Nevertheless, what you do need to consider is that your 
specific roles are going to vary depending on the type of nursing you practice in. Of course, all 
nurses are responsible for patient care, support, and advocacy. However, the way in which this is 
provided and the sort of setting that you work in will depend on what area of nursing you decide to 
progress into. 
Some of the different roles that you may want to consider include the likes of becoming a nursing 
associate, children’s nurse, adult nurse, learning disability nurse, mental health nurse, prison nurse, 
travel nurse, neonatal nurse, health visitor, general practice nurse, district nurse, theatre nurse, and 
school nurse.
It is important to spend some time researching all of the different nursing specialisms so you can 
get a better understanding of what they entail and the educational route you are going to need to 
take to get where you want to be. 
Final words on the roles of a nurse
So there you have it: an insight into the different roles that nurses have today. We hope that this 
has helped you to get a better understanding of some of the different responsibilities that you are 
going to have if you decide that you want to pursue a career as a nurse! 
As a nurse, it is your main priority to make sure that you support and advocate for the patients that 
you care for. You are going to have a better understanding of how people are feeling and how they 
are coping, and so you are going to be in the best position to be their champion and to provide 
them with the support that they require. 
Of course, as mentioned, there are plenty of different roles, and so you will need to make sure that 
you look into the options that are available and consider what path you want to go down when 
pursuing your career in nursing.

What Nurses Want from Employers
Nursing shortages and high rates of nurse turnover are forcing nursing recruiters to think more 
strategically. The old methods of medical recruiting aren’t working and it’s clear that something new must 
be done to fill the 1.1 million nursing jobs needed by 2025. To ramp things up, it helps to understand what 
today’s current batch of nursing candidates want from the employers who hire them.
Tuition Remission or Reimbursement 
Nurses are more likely to accept a position when they know it comes with opportunities for career growth. 
Offering tuition remission or reimbursement let’s the nurse expand his or her knowledge and obtain new 
skills. You can add a stipulation that the nursing professional must work at your facility for a certain period 
of time to pay off the tuition costs if you’re worried about nurses jumping ship. By encouraging continued 
learning, your facility benefits from higher levels of skills while you gain a greater reputation for helping the 
nurses you hire.
More Staff Would Lead to Less Burnout
Nurses want the healthcare facilities they work for to hire enough staff to distribute workloads evenly. 
Studies show that nurses that have to care for more than four patients at a time are at greater risk of 
burnout. More staff to even out the nurse-to-patient ratio would alleviate this problem.
Career Advancement 
In addition to greater knowledge, nurses want to know that they can move up in the organization with 
enough hard work. This doesn’t necessarily have to involve nurses moving up to leadership or managerial 
positions. It could also mean nurses moving to different departments, allowing them to pursue new 
interests while giving their potentially stagnant career a necessary jolt.
Safe and Comfortable Working Conditions
Everyone likes to feel comfortable at work, nurses especially. With the high-stress environment, they’re 
forced to work in, it helps nurses to know that their co-workers are there for them and management can 
lend a supportive hand (or a friendly ear) when necessary. The alternative is to provide a hostile 
environment, which can lead to burnout and turnover. 
To keep your workplace comfortable, put focus on rewarding your nurses for their good work. Offer 
employee incentives to make them want to keep their jobs and focus on building a facility culture that is 
inclusive and accepting to all.
Easy to Understand Schedule
Nurses want to know that they’ll have enough hours on their paychecks to enable them to pay the bills. 
Some nurses want overtime so they can earn higher levels of compensation. Work with your nurses to give 
them the schedules they want most, if possible. Schedules should also be predictable so that nurses can 
plan around their shifts and attain some semblance of a work-life balance.
Incentive Programs 
Your nursing staff will be more willing to come to work when they are supported and paid well. Incentives 
like medical and retirement packages also help to retain top nursing talent. Find out what benefits your 
nursing staff is most interested and surprise them with the incentives they want. Once you’ve made your 
facility a joy to work at, with plenty of rewards, you can further entice your nurses to spread the word about 
working there by offering a referral bonus. Having your nurses do the medical recruiting for you is a great 
idea, as friends always like to work with friends. 
Family Support Such as Child Care
Nurses want to focus on their jobs and patients while at work. This is difficult when 
they constantly have to worry about hiring and relieving the babysitter or being to the 
daycare on time to pick up their little one before it closes. 
A good incentive you can offer to your nurses is to offer child and family care support. 
When torn between two facilities, one that offers family care and one that doesn’t, a 
nurse with kids might always choose the former. Family care can also provide home 
care for adults or nursing home services, depending on the terms of the program. 
Mental Health Resources
Your nurses may appreciate programs that help with mental health issues. With 
nursing being such a high-pressure job, nurses may want access to mental health 
professionals and services. Be aware that some nurses may be hesitant to use on-site 
mental health services. They may feel being labeled with a stigma that could be 
detrimental to their long-term careers. If this is the case, you can also consider a 
program that offers reimbursement for mental health visits the nurses attend on their 
own time.
At ProLink, we get to know your organization inside and out. We can help you identify 
areas where nurses would love to work at your facility, and areas where changes 
might help to attract higher-quality talent. We can pair you with matches from around 
the country, helping you find nurses that qualify for the positions you have open. 
Ready to get started? Call (866)777-3704.
As a nursing recruiter, you have likely faced quite a 
few hiring challenges. Low-quality talent, not enough 
applicants, and high turnover rates are the most 
common issues facing many healthcare recruiters 
today. You can combat these problems by 
partnering with a healthcare staffing agency like 
ProLink Healthcare Staffing.
ProLink Staffing
9200 Shelbyville Rd Suite 400
Louisville, KY 40222
(866) 777-3704
https://prolinkstaffing.com/