The Nervous System: Access to Nursing Care

Introduction

An understanding of how the nervous system work plays a crucial role in ensuring that nurses effectively deliver quality care to patients. This is because the Nervous System is responsible for controlling all the functions of the body where a majority of health conditions can be diagnosed through an understanding of the structure and functions of the various elements that constitute the Nervous System. The role of this study was to determine the reasons why access to nervous system knowledge is necessary for nurses. Nurses spend the most significant time. As such, knowledge about the Nervous System would help them to offer better care to patients whose health conditions are linked to nervous system malfunction. This study is however limited to the use of secondary sources and therefore does not add new knowledge to the already existing body of research.

Table of Contents

Introduction. 2

Findings. 3

SECTION ONE. 3

Structures and Functions of the Brain. 3

The Central Nervous System versus the Peripheral Nervous system.. 5

Branches of Automatic System (Sympathetic Versus Parasympathetic Nervous Systems) 5

SECTION TWO.. 6

The differences between glial cells. 6

References. 8

Findings

The Nervous System (NS) denotes the primary communicating, regulatory, and controlling System in the body. It is regarded as the most organised data processing system constituting of millions of pathways specialised to transmit electric signals from one location to another in the body (Baby Professor 2017).  The NS is composed of organs, including the brain, the spinal cord, ganglia, and the nerves (Maris, 2018). Principally, the nervous System is responsible for reception, response and coordination in animals, also known as irritability. When the body mechanism detects changes in the environment (stimuli), the information is taken up by the NS to transport, process, and communicate to the various body organs for appropriate action to be taken (Ebneshahidi, 2006). The NS is divided into two main branches- the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS constitutes of the Brain, and the spinal cord, while the PNS consists of the somatic and Automatic nervous systems Springer N.d.). Automatic NS is further divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (See Appendix 1). Coordination between all these parts is responsible for the reception, response, and coordination of all body functions.

SECTION ONE

Structures and Functions of the Brain

The Brain is responsible for controlling all the functions of the body, embodies the essence of soul and mind, and interprets information from the outside world (Mai, & Paxinos, 2012). Emotions, memory, intelligence, and creativity are a few of the things that the Brain governs. It receives information through the five senses- hearing, taste, touch, smell and sight and interprets it in a way that has meaning (Noback, Strominger, Demarest, and Ruggiero, 2005). The Brain also stores information, controls the speech, movement, and functioning of many organs within the body of an organism. The Brain has three main parts; cerebrum, cerebellum, and the brain stem that are specialised to perform different roles. (See Appendix 2)

1. Cerebrum- It is the largest part constituting the right and the left hemispheres. The cerebrum is specialised to perform higher functions like fine control of movement, reasoning, emotions, and interpreting hearing, touch, speech, and vision (MAYFIELD Brain & Spine, 2018).
2. Cerebellum- It is located under the cerebrum and is responsible for coordinating muscle movement, maintaining posture, and balance (MAYFIELD Brain & Spine, 2018).
3. Brainstem- It serves as the relay entre connecting the cerebellum and cerebrum to the spinal cord. The brain stem performs automatic functions like heart rate, breathing, body temperature, digestion, sleep and wake cycles, swallowing, vomiting, sneezing, and coughing (MAYFIELD Brain & Spine, 2018).

Other than the three main regions, the Brain consists of other structures responsible specialised in performing a wide range of functions. They include;

1. Thalamus- It is responsible for relaying information to various regions of the Brain.
2. Medulla Oblongata- It is responsible for controlling a number of involuntary/ automatic functions in the body like breathing and heartbeat, among others.
3. Hypothalamus- It is the part of the brain that is responsible for controlling behaviours such as sexual responses, sleep, thirst, and hunger. Hypothalamus also regulates blood pressure, body temperature, secretion of hormones, and emotions.
4. Pituitary gland- The pituitary gland regulates the functions of all the endocrine glands in the body. The gland promotes muscle and bone growth, control, sexual development, and response to stress (Noback, Strominger, Demarest, and Ruggiero, 2005).

The Central Nervous System versus the Peripheral Nervous system

Scientists categorise the NS into two branches- the CNS and the PNS (See Appendix 1). The two systems differ in physiological functions and structure. The CNS consists of the spinal cord and the Brain, while the PNS consists of all the nerves connecting the CNS to all other body organs, including the motor and sensory neurons. Sensory neurons detect changes in the environment and transmit the information to the CNS for processing. After processing, a command is relayed to the PNS, which is responsible for following the commands given by the CNS.

Branches of Automatic System (Sympathetic Versus Parasympathetic Nervous Systems)

The automatic is responsible for involuntarily regulates the internal functions of the body and is divided into two divisions, namely parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. The two systems control the same group of functions but exert opposite effects on the functions they regulate (Robertson, 2004). The sympathetic system, also referred to as “The fight-or-flight response,” prepares the body for intense physical activity. The System is responsible for controlling the body response during threatening circumstances like physical danger. Some of the sympathetic nervous system functions include;

1. Muscle contraction,
2. Stimulation of adrenal glands to release adrenaline,
3. Increase in heart rate and constriction of heart muscles,
4. Decrease in urinary output,
5. Shut down of processes that are not critical for survival
6. Decrease in production of saliva
7. Conversion of glycogen to glucose, among others (Diffen).

Parasympathetic Nervous System, also known as “rest-and –Digest response,” controls homeostatic functions in the body at rest.it counterbalances the sympathetic System to restore the body at a state of calm. One of the responses triggered by parasympathetic System includes;

1. Decreased heart rate
2. Muscular relaxation
3. Increased urinary output, increased production of saliva
4. Sphincter relaxation, among others (Diffen).

SECTION TWO

The differences between glial cells

A neuron, also known as a nerve cell, denotes the basic building block of the nervous System and differ from other body cells in that they are specialised to transmit information throughout the body of an organism. A neuron has three basic parts including the cell body, axon and the dendrites (See appendix 3). However, they vary in shape, size and characteristic depending on their specific roles. However, all neurons send signals using action potentials that denotes a shift in the neuron’s electric potential triggered by flow of ions in and out of the neural membrane. The action potential triggers chemical or electrical synapses that aid in the propagation of messages in the body (Molnar and Gair). Glia, on the other hand, is regarded as the supporting cast of the NS. They are non-neuronal cells that support neuronal development and signaling. In the Brain, Glia outnumbers the neurons by a factor of ten and supports the functioning of the neurons. Functionally, glia guides developing neurons to their destinations, enhance myelination along the axons and buffers chemicals and ions that would harm the neurons. There are different types of glia specialised to perform a wide range of functions.

References

Baby Professor. (2017). Functions of The Human Nervous System – Biology Books for Kids – Children’s. Baby Professor. http://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/product/openreader?id=none&isbn=9781541939745.

Diffen, N.d. parasympathetic vs Sympathetic Nervous System. [Online]. Available at < https://www.diffen.com/difference/Parasympathetic_nervous_system_vs_Sympathetic_nervous_system> [Accessed March, 4, 2020]

Ebneshahidi, A., 2006. The Nervous System & Nervous tissue. Pearson Education, Inc. [Online]. Available at < http://www.lamission.edu/lifesciences/alianat1/chap%208%20-%20nervous%20tissue.pdf> [Accessed March, 2. 2020]

Mai, J. K., & Paxinos, G. (2012). The human nervous system. Amsterdam, Elsevier Academic Press. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780123742360.

Maris, G., 2018. The Brain and How it functions. [Online] Available at< https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327101869_The_Brain_and_How_it_Functions>  [Accessed March, 2. 2020]

MAYFIELD Brain & Spine, 2018. Anatomy of the Brain. [Online]. Available at< http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/pe-anatbrain.htm> [Accessed March, 2. 2020]

Molnar, C., and Gair, J. N.d. Concepts of Biology-1^st Canadian edition [Online] Available at< https://opentextbc.ca/biology/chapter/16-1-neurons-and-glial-cells/> [Accessed, March 4,2020]

Noback, C.R, Strominger, N.L, Demarest, R.J, and Ruggiero, D.A (2005). The human Nervous System: structure and function [Sixth Edition] Totowa, New Jersey: Huma Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=UnRO3A_cS44C&printsec=frontcover&dq=biology:+nervous+system&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiY-pvQk4HoAhXXQ0EAHbMjDz4Q6AEIXjAH#v=onepage&q=biology%3A%20nervous%20system&f=true

Robertson, D. (2004). Primer on the autonomic nervous system. Boston, Academic Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10169749.

Springerlink (Online Service). (N.d.). The human nervous system: structure and function. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sfu-ebooks/detail.action?docID=372921.

Appendix

Appendix 1 1: Divisions of the Nervous System

Appendix 2: The main parts of the Brain

Source: MAYFIELD Brain & Spine, 2018. Anatomy of the Brain.

Appendix 3: Basic structure of a neuron

Source: https://opentextbc.ca/biology/chapter/16-1-neurons-and-glial-cells/