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evolution of nursing in nursing practice
Historical development of nursing
Historical development of nursing
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Nursing History Paper: The Evolution of the Nursing Profession Nursing is more than merely a job, an occupation, or a career; it is a vocation, a calling, a frame of mind and heart. As a nurse, one must value the general good of others over his own. He must devote of himself nobly to ensure the well-being of his patient. However, today’s well-recognized nurses are notably different from nurses of the recent past. Service is the core of the nursing profession, and the essential evolution of the vocation reflects the ever-changing needs of the diverse patient population that it serves. As a profession, nursing has evolved progressively, particularly in its modernization throughout the past two centuries with the influence of Florence Nightingale. The field of nursing continues to grow and diversify even today, as nurses receive greater medical credibility and repute, as its minority representations …show more content…
Before the modernization and reform of their profession in the mid-1800s, nurses were believed to perform “women’s work”, which implied menial duties, unskilled service, and an overall lack of skill (Garey, "Sentimental women need not apply"). This mentality was substantiated by the “untrained attendants, [including] past patients, vagrants, and prostitutes,” that performed a variety of nursing tasks (Garey). Florence Nightingale’s nursing experiences during the Crimean War, her subsequent publication of Notes on Nursing, and her work to build up professionalism within the field transformed the way that the world and society viewed nursing. She introduced invigorating ideas of patient care, nursing roles and responsibilities, and was a strong proponent of nursing education. Nightingale’s overall work inspired and changed the profession of nursing, laying the foundation for its
Nursing encompasses the compassionate, holistic, and virtuous care that nurses deliver to patients, families, and communities in order to assist with achieving optimal health and wellness or attaining comfort and acceptance. Compassionate care encompasses the empathy and drive to help others that the nursing profession pos...
In particular, the use of Florence Nightingale’s theory of nursing as the basis of my new practice had allowed me to begin with the basics and work my way forward toward a more modern and holistic approach to nursing care. While Florence’s work focused mainly on the military and her care of soldiers, she began to establish schools of nursing to promote nursing education and to encourage people to view nursing as a viable profession, (Alligood, 2014. 63). Nightingale’s focus may have been care of the military, but she made great strides on getting recognition for nursing and her theories still affect the practice of nursing today. In the article, Nurses as Leaders, the author proposes that nurse leaders have made great strides since Nightingale’s time when nurses were conscripted to help care for wounded soldiers. Such a setting required these early nurse pioneers to rely on critical thinking and quick action in order to save lives. The author goes on to discuss how a change in nursing occurred in the early 20th century as new management styles emerged, most notable the “Scientific Management,” model. This style placed doctors at the top, then nurse managers, and on down to bedside care staff. Though this did allow some nurses the ability to move upward, nurses resented a doctor being in charge of their teams as the work of a physician and that of a nurse are two very different practices, ("Nurses as Leaders," 2016). This is quite different from the modern concept of a nurse executive as leader of
“I attribute my success to this-I never gave or took any excuse.” These words spoken by Florence Nightingale showed that she was hard working and determined to make a difference in the field that she felt was her calling. Florence Nightingale was a nurse who spent her night roundscaring for the wounded, establishing her image as “Lady with the Lamp.” “The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm” – Florence Nightingale. She was a heroic woman because she was a fantastic female nurse, cured the ill and was a great team leader (Florence Bio).
Nursing was not always the profession we know it as today. “Nurses were often lower class, usually had no education, and were often alcoholics, prostitutes, and women who were down on their luck” (Finkleman & Kenner, 2013, p. 9). There was a high morality rate due to the lack of training and unkept environment the patients stayed in. However, when Florence Nightingale came into the nursing world everything changed. She believed that nurses shouldn’t be lower-class alcoholic women but women of higher class with an education. Therefore, she opened a school in London to train and educate women because “Nursing is an art and a science” (Masters, 2015, p. 29). She believed an average person should be able to understand medical
Before Nightingale, nurses were lower class citizens that were alcoholics or prostitutes with no to a little education. Florence Nightingale realized that nurses ought to have some education in caring for others and be of a higher class. In 1860, she opened the first nursing school in London that did not accept prostitutes and alcoholics. To signify Nightingale’s view of nursing, Lystra Gretter composed a Hippocratic Oath for nurses called the Nightingale pledge.
Nurse Practitioning is a very important job in the field of medicine. In the nursing field the highest degree attainable while holding the status of “Nurse” is Nurse Practitioner (NP). This career has influenced the nursing world in several ways throughout the years. A few key things that set Nurse Practitioning apart from other medical professionals are the history and background of the job, the quality care provided by the nurse practitioner, and the different responsibilities help by an NP as opposed to those of an RN. These are important because nurse practitioners can be compared to other physicians, the history changed how people looked at and thought of nurses, and NPs can perform different and possibly more advanced activities than other level nurses. The history of nurse practitioning is more detailed and complex than one would think. Throughout the history of the profession, small detail have been refined such as the education, training, and responsibilities required to be effective in the career and the job prospect that come from being trained and certified. There are several things that go into the finely tuned care provided by nurse
Nursing is a varied career that offers opportunities to many. It offers a range of facilities and options for all. Nursing is an ethical centered profession that requires its members to give of themselves. Each individual must maintain a professional atmosphere while upholding his or her personal integrity. Each nurse brings his or her own unique values and beliefs to their work and care. A strong conviction toward those ideals is essential in the profession. Nurses are faced with differing views, ideas, and expectations every day and must maintain neutrality for the betterment of their patients. They care for those experiencing illness, loss, and health and have to nurture accordingly. Nursing is not about the skill set or knowledge we have but about those we help in the process. Nursing goes beyond a career; it is a
Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in nursing and maintained it as an independent profession which was not secondary to the medical profession but equal. *Nightingale 1969 cited by Hoeve et al 2013
A nurse’s role in our society today is exceptionally significant. Nurses are somewhat idolized and looked to as our everyday “superman”. “The mission of nursing in society is to help individuals, families, and groups to determine and achieve physical, mental, and social potential, and to do so within the challenging context of the environment in which they live and work” (“The Role of a Nurse/Midwife”). Many Americans turn to nurses for delivery of primary health care services and health care education (Whelan). In our country, there is constantly someone in need of health care. There will always be a baby being born or a person dying, someone becoming ill or growing old. Some people due to their physical and/or mental state of health are completely dependent on a nurse and wouldn’t be able to get through the simple obstacles of every day, or achieve the necessary requirements of a simple day without their aid. Not only do nurses help, and assist you when you’re sick, but also act to promote good health to others. They end...
“Nursing encompasses an art, a humanistic orientation, a feeling for the value of the individual, and an intuitive sense of ethics, and of the appropriateness of action taken’, said Myrtle Aydelott (Hammarskjold, 2000). Nurses have our patients trust with their lives every day. These patients have needs that must be understood and met, whether; physical, psychological, or emotional. Nurses must provide nonjudgmental care to those in need, regardless of culture, religion, lifestyle choices, financial status, or hues of the human race. To quote Jean Watson, nursing theorist, “I am here to care for others, regardless of where they came from” (Hammarskjold, 2000). I believe that the nursing profession chose me because I have always had a calling to help those in need. Nursing
In the 1980's, the nursing profession was transformed by World War two. The first known nurse during the early years of the Christian church was Phoebe a deaconess. Phoebe took care of both men and woman, in 323 A.D construction of a hospital has begun in every cathedral town. Nursing professionalized in the late 19th century. Larger hospitals set up nursing schools that attracted ambitious women from working-class back grounds. Till the early 1900s, nursing schools came to an end and was controlled by hospitals. The hospitals took control and no longer need book learning just experience, training and used the student nurses as cheap labor. In the late 1920s the women’s specialities in health care included 294,000 trained nurses, 150,000 untrained nurses, 550,000 other hospital workers most women and 47,000 midwives. The nation’s 3.1 million nurses work in diverse settings and fields and are frontline providers of health care services. Most nurses prefer to work in acute care settings. Nurses fill a wide variety of positions in healthcare. Florence Nightingale was not the first to put these principles into action it was a corp of educated women who informed and promoted it. Throughout the history, most sick care took place in the home and was the family, friends, and neighbors with knowledge of healing practices responsibility. In the 19th century, hospitals began to proliferate to serve those who were without the resources to provide their own care. Nursing care in these institutions differed enormously. The first physician was Valentine Seaman from New York. Seaman organized an early course of lectures for nurses who cared for maternity mothers. The outbreak of the civil war created an immediate need for nurses. About 20,000 wo...
Nursing is one of the oldest professions. It isn’t a static occupation, as it has changed frequently over time. Its development and evolution has changed differently depending on the historical influences. As of today the nursing profession is changing and becoming larger and greater. Nursing has gone from being a career that did not require an education, to being one that is very respected and demands a high education.
Some of the most gratifying things about being a nurse is the distinctive role we have with those we care for. Our role encourages openness and transparency for clients and their families to reveal things to us they may not be willing to say under most circumstances. Furthermore, nursing is a life path that comes with incalculable responsibilities to be both a compassionate health care provider and a conscientious advocate. This semester I had the opportunity to experience nursing from the perspective of a Community Health Nurse in Montclair, California. It has given me a chance to practice these responsibilities in different ways. It has also given me a new perspective on nursing.
Though a form of caring existed since the creation of human beings, the image merely consisted of a form of health promotion or health maintenance (Stanley & Sharret, 2010). Florence Nightingale, a pioneer, who took advantage of the contributions women made in society in promoting health and caring aimed to address that caring is something more substantial and based on scientific knowledge and evidence than just simply a given task. The ideas and the care practice approach Nightingale created is the foundation of the nursing profession and continues to influence modern day nursing.
Nightingale’s achievements completely changed nursing into an honorable and respectable profession by establishing education and responsibilities into the job. Thereafter, nurses were no longer considered low, but became respected and an important role of human lives. She was contemporary in using her experience during the Crimean War to expose the initial instance of the linkage between research, theory and practice. In the Crimean War, she was a nurse who took notice of the uncleanliness and degradation of the military hospitals. She worked hard to bring the death rate down by making sanitary improvements and organizing levels of standards for clean and safe hospitals. She explained these methods in her Notes on Hospitals to improve increased ventilation, adding windows, improving drainage and increasing