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Role of Chemistry in Nursing

Chemistry is a science that concerns itself with properties and composition of various
forms of chemical substances and how these substances interact with each other (Brown &
Nailer, 2018). Nursing, as a profession, on the other hand, is concerned with maintenance and
promotion of both individual and group health (Brown & Naiker, 2018). On the surface,
therefore, there seems to be not much that connects the two fields. However, almost all
healthcare professionals need some knowledge of chemistry. Chemistry is viewed as an
important foundation for healthcare professionals such as doctors, respiratory therapists,
paramedics, waste disposal professionals, and nurses (Boddey & de Berg, 2018). Such is the
importance of chemistry to nursing profession that nursing students have to take compulsory
chemistry courses in the course of their nursing studies. This paper examines why chemistry is
such an important component of nursing studies and practice.
Types of chemistry that nurses learn
Chemistry is a very wild field. Certainly nurses cannot learn the whole of it. They only
need chemistry knowledge that is applicable in their nursing practice. The most common
chemistry fields that nurses study are biochemistry, pharmacology, and organic chemistry (Ma,
2019). Biochemistry combines chemistry and biology. It concerns itself with chemical activities
that take place in the human body (Ma, 2019). Pharmacology, on the other hand, deals with types
of drugs and the effects of the drugs on the human body(Ma, 2019). Nurses, in particular, need
strong background in pharmacology in order to rightly administer drugs. Another important
chemistry field that nurses study is organic chemistry. It deals with compounds containing
carbon and how these compounds react with other substances.

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Importance of chemistry in nursing practice
While chemistry courses are compulsory for all nursing students, many of the students
often feel that the chemistry concepts taught to them are difficult and even irrelevant in their
practice (Brown & Naiker, 2018). They may be difficult but they are certainly not irrelevant.
Nurses apply chemistry in almost all aspects of their practice. This is especially the case in
modern nursing where nurses enjoy greater autonomy than nurses of previous generations.
Previously, nurses were mainly required to carry of out orders of physicians and other healthcare
professionals such as pharmacists (Mumba, 2018). Nowadays, they are required to monitor and
respond to complex health situations (Mumba, 2018). In this new role of enhanced autonomy in
healthcare, nurses need a strong background in chemistry.
Perhaps the most significant use of chemistry for nurses in this new role is administering
of medicines to patients. Medicines are the primary tools that healthcare professionals use to
bring about relief of symptoms and healing among patients. Before administering any drug to a
patient, nurses need to know the properties of the drug and how it affects various chemical
processes in the body (Mumba, 2018). It is this knowledge that will help them determine whether
the drug is effective or not in the treatment of the medical condition of the patient.
While the goal of administering medication is improve the patient’s health, medications
can also have the opposite effect. Thus, apart from knowing the properties of various medicines
and what they do in the human body, nurses also need to understand how patients are likely to
react to various chemicals introduced in their bodies (Mumba, 2018). Depending on the
condition of patients, some otherwise effective drugs may worsen their condition because of
other preexisting medical conditions. A nurse, therefore, needs to understand the type of

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chemical processes in human bodies that result in certain symptoms and how the drugs they plan
to administer to the patients affect these processes and, therefore, the symptoms.
Additionally, sometimes a single chemical/drug may not be able to bring about the
desired effect in patients. The nurse, therefore, has to use a combination of drugs or solutions to
help the patient regain their health (Ma, 2019). For such cases, nurses need to know not just the
properties of each separate drug or chemical, they also need to know how the drugs react
together (Ma, 2019). They need to know which drugs complement each other and which ones are
likely to react in an adverse manner when taken together. To determine whether a given set of
drugs complement each other or not, nurses need to know the exact behavior of each drug in the
human body. Thus, for instance, it is not enough for a nurse to just know that antibiotics fight
bacterial infections in the body, they need to know the exact bacteria that specific kind of
antibiotics kill.
Apart from knowing specific drugs and how they fight disease-causing organisms in the
body, nurses also need to know the dosages and concentrations of the drugs that they administer
to patients (Ma, 2019). Getting such information wrong may result in adverse consequences for
the patient, including death. All these knowledge requires a good background in chemistry.
Knowledge of chemistry also comes in handy for nurses when examining conditions of
patients. For instance, when taking their pH, they need to understand what it means for a patient
to have very high acidic or basic pH in certain areas of their bodies (Mumba, 2018). They also
need to know the significance of having certain kinds of electrolytes in the bodies of patients.
For instance, they may need to understand the significance of high levels of carbon dioxide,
chloride, oxygen, potassium, bicarbonate, and sodium electrolytes in a patient recovering a given

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illness. Only when they understand the significance of these compounds in the bodies of such
patients in given quantities will they know the appropriate action to take.
Nurses also need strong background in chemistry because of the extensive use of
chemicals in healthcare facilities such as hospitals where they primarily work in. One of the roles
of nurses is to keep the environment safe for patients. In performance of this role, they need to
make sure that toxic waste materials are handled carefully without causing harm either to
themselves or to the patients (Boddey & de Berg, 2018). Chemistry knowledge allows nurses to
know substances that are toxic and which ones are not. It also helps them to know what to do in
case patients are mistakenly exposed to toxic chemical substances. Thus knowledge of chemistry
plays a major role in ensuring that nurses keep their patients safe.
Chemistry also comes in handy for nursing students when studying other specialties as
part of their coursework. For instance, as part of their coursework, nurses study disciplines such
as microbiology and physiology (Brown & Naiker, 2018). To succeed in these classes they need
some basic chemistry knowledge. Chemistry is, therefore, not just useful to nurses during their
practice but also during their training.
Conclusion
Having examined the importance of chemistry knowledge for nurses, it is of no wonder
that chemistry courses are compulsory for nurses during their training. Nurses need strong
background in chemistry in order to provide safe and quality care to patients. Without adequate
chemistry knowledge, nurses risk harming instead of improving the health of their patients.

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References

Boddey, K., & de Berg, K. (2018). A framework for understanding student nurses’ experience of
chemistry as part of a health science course. Chemistry Education Research and
Practice, 19(2), 597-616.
Brown, S., & Naiker, M. (2018). Attitude to the subject of chemistry in nursing and health
science undergraduate students. International Journal of Innovation and Research in
Educational Sciences, 5(2), 192-1965.
Ma, S. (2019). Application of Chemistry Course in Nursing Specialty in Higher Vocational
Colleges.
Mumba, P. P. (2018). Useful Principles in Chemistry for Agriculture and Nursing Students.
Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. USA.