An Overview of Today’s Nursing Industry

Nowadays people live longer and demand more and higher quality preventive and long-term care. As the American population continues to grow older, people need skilled, dedicated professionals to meet their health needs. Nursing has a key role in promoting health and keeping people well as well as supporting them during times of illness. Ephraim Zagelbaum is the Founder and CEO of Personal Healthcare, a business that would provide superior service to seniors in need of assistance while making a positive difference in the lives of patients and their families. As he explains, around the world, demand for nursing homes and assisted living services is growing along with the aging population. In fact, the global population of people over 60 is expected to hit 1.2 billion in 2025.

Internationally, demand for nursing homes and assisted living services is growing along with the number of elderly people, states Ephraim Zagelbaum. While the number of nursing facilities varies by region, and the percentage of elderly living in nursing homes varies by country, a growing number of countries, are experiencing an increase in demand for long-term care options for their aging and infirm citizens.

The nursing and long-term care industry includes skilled nursing facilities for recovery from acute or chronic medical conditions, mental health and substance abuse facilities, and various types of independent living, community care, and assisted living arrangements. Nursing homes typically care for patients recovering from major medical procedures and older patients with chronic disabilities and deteriorating mental and physical capacities, providing a wide array of health care and dependent-care services including 24-hour nursing care, physical therapy, help with activities of daily living (ADL) such as bathing, eating, and dressing, housekeeping, food service, personal services, and leisure activities. Some experienced nursing home CEOs are bringing skilled nursing facilities into the digital age. For several years, its contact-free patient monitoring systems have been used by hospitals to continuously track respiratory rate, heart rate and movement. 

Over the last few decades, the nurse’s role in healthcare has changed dramatically. Not that long ago, nurses served only a few main causes-such as being midwives and giving basic care to patients-and were not nearly-as respected and independent as their doctor superiors. But, in the last few decades, the stigma has been turned upside down. Today, nursing care requires having professional skills and involves obligations exceeding hygiene and comfort procedures. As a result, Ephraim Zagelbaum notes in his articles, modern day nurses are extremely skilled with up to date technological developments, knowledgeable of science and humanities. In addition to that, their tasks are quite complicated and require critical thinking skills. The need for nurses today to be highly trained, well-educated, critical thinkers is a requirement enabling them to make complex clinical decisions. Some nurses further their careers all the way up to the PhD level and some even have their own practice.