Nursing: The Life of Medicine and Selflessness

As he finally gasped for air, he looks up to see the nurse that had just given him cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was lying there breathing again because of the nurse that was educated and trained to help, she saved his life. To save a life and become a hero in someone’s eyes, that is a nurse. Nurses are important figures of society and are there whenever and forever. They play a key role in the caring for a patient and obtain many duties and responsibilities. Since nursing has evolved, the lives of the people are better protected, education is a major factor and nursing has steadily progressed in technology and medicine.

Nursing has been around for hundreds of years. As these years have come about there has been drastic changes within nursing. From the clothes they wore, to education and training and technology as it is (Christensen 1). During the nineteenth century, the hospitals were dirty and way to crowded. Patients with open wounds were left lying unattended. The workers used bad hygiene and infection ran unchecked. Hospitals were known as places to contract diseases and infections rather than them being treated and cured. There was an absence of trained and qualified workers during this time period, because a girl of proper upbringing did not work outside of the home (Christensen 3). Women that actually worked in the hospitals were lower class, drank heavily and were involved in prostitution. During this time a German pastor named Theodore Fliedner in Kaiserswerth, Germany established the first nursing school. The reputation of this facility spread fast and a lady was impressed (Christensen 3).

In the year of 1851 a young and determined women named Florence Nightingale joined the Kaiserswerth program. Two years l...

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