Florence Nightingale's Role And Development Of Nurses

Introduction

Nurses used to be seen as just caregivers, but with the development of nursing education nurses are now seen as a knowledgeable professional that does more than just care for the ill. The American Nurses Association defines nursing as "the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, and population" (Taylor, Lillis, & Lynn, 2015). Nursing has come a long way due to Florence Nightingale 's influence. She made it possible for today 's nurses to not just be a caregiver but to have other roles, responsibilities, and multiple opportunities in career choice.

When Nightingale and her team arrived at the military hospital in Scutari they saw the horrible conditions the soldiers were in. Soldiers were covered in bugs, everything was filthy and unhygienic, and even rats were under the soldier 's beds. Because of the poor care and unsanitary conditions soldiers were dying of diseases such as typhus, cholera, and dysentery (Wright, 2010). The hospital didn’t even have the most basic supplies such as towels or soap, so she made the firsts purchases to provide for the soldiers. Once she identified what the main problems were she went about to fix them. She made sure she and her nurses cleaned everything from walls to floor, she contacted the government to send men to have the sewers flushed, made sure that there was plenty ventilation, and made the ward as sanitary as possible (Wright, 2010). Nightingale shortly began began writing books and opened the first training school for nurses. It wasn’t until the Civil War that Nightingale 's writings on nursing influenced the way the military tried to organize its nursing and nursing education in America (Kautz, 2014). A volunteer during the civil war tried to convince congress to pass a bill to make the corps of nursing permanent and to start a school of nursing for the corps. It wasn’t until

Most employers prefer that nurses get their bachelors in science because they tend to have stronger skills apart from just having the technical skills the ADN nurse has. Nurses with their BSN degree acquire knowledge of theory and practice related to nursing. A great thing about going into nursing is that there is a variety of specialties nurses can go into because of the continuous education research.” A nurse with an advanced degree, education, or experience who is considered to be an expert in a specialized area of nursing” (Taylor, 2015). For example a nurse could be specialized in areas such as oncology, labor and delivery, or infection control. Nurses can also go on to get their master’s or doctoral degrees and become a nurse practitioner or nurse educator. The possibilities for a nurse are