What nurses do, part 1.

If you ask a person who has been in the hospital what his nurse did while he was there, you could get any of a wide variety of answers. Many people will tell you that the nurse took their blood pressure a few times, gave them some medicine, and they'll probably tell you whether or not their nurse was "nice". The truth is that nurses do all kinds of things, and that good nurses equal healthy patients. Studies show that a higher ratio of RN's working at a facility leads to a decreased mortality rate of patients (see this JAMA abstract for details of one study).
This post marks the beginning of a series of undetermined length (pretty much until I get tired of doing it) about what your nurses are doing for you.

Lesson 1: Ins and outs.

This is a phrase heard frequently in the hospital setting, although it's usually shortened down to just "I's and O's". A great deal about the overall health of a patient can be obtained from knowing what they're putting in and what they're putting out. We want to know how much they're eating and drinking, and what the body excretes in exchange. If you can expel it in some way, chances are that your nurse will have a good look at it, measure it, and will document it somewhere. Sounds a little gross maybe, but it's good information about what is going on within the body. For example, you can tell a lot about someone's health by having a good look at their urine. What is the color, the clarity, the smell, the volume? You can get information about hydration status, possible infection, kidney function, diabetic state - all sorts of things, before ever running a single test.
Nurses specialize in excretions. If you have an opening and something is coming out of it, that's something we take care of. I carefully measured 950 ml's of vomit the other day so I could get it written down on a patient's chart. (In actuality, the CNA's and aides on the team do handle a great deal of the routine activity of patients, including restroom assistance and the like, but as a nursing student we do it all. And rest assured, your nurse does plenty of it as well.)
It's not glamorous, but it's an important part of a nurse's job. And people are healthier because of it.