Before this class, I always thought nursing was a respectable and challenging profession. I know in today’s society, nurses are overworked and don’t really get the appreciation they deserve for their hard work. However, I never would have thought that in the 1800s, nursing was not even seen as a profession. Before learning of Florence Nightingale, we learned of a woman called Martha Ballard and her role in Midwifery. Later on, we learned about Florence Nightingale and her contributions to the nursing profession. Even though most of her contributions to the nursing profession were good, others were not so great. Her idea of a nurse as a middle class white woman only would affect the nursing profession for men and nonwhite women in the United States. The United States would also face a massive nurse shortage and the …show more content…
As important as Florence Nightingale was to Nursing, Martha Ballard was important to midwifery. Reading about midwifery was really eye opening. In my opinion, midwifery was the first profession that was practice by women. Midwifery was really important in the 1700’s when the United States was just starting as a nation. Women that practiced midwifery didn’t have any training, but they did have experience. This was the main reason why women preferred giving birth with the help of a midwife instead of a physician. Martha Ballard delivered about 700 babies and not only was she a midwife, she was also a healer. She would also prescribe folk medicine, nurse the sick, and even lay down the dead (Houlihan,1). However, as the time went by, midwives disappeared. New technology was being invented, for example the forceps. Childbirth was no longer a female-controlled practice. Childbirth practice was now being challenged by new scientific ideas that were promoted by young male physicians. By the 1800s, it was more common for male doctors to deliver babies. By then and so on, midwifery
This novel, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, is based on Ballard’s diary starting in 1785 and ending with her death in 1812. Ulrich takes us step by step through Martha Ballard’s life as a Colonial Midwife. She reveals to us all the marvelous acts that midwives performed for their families and communities. “Midwives and nurses mediated the mysteries of birth, procreation, illness and death. They touched the untouchable, handled excrement and vomit as well as milk, swaddled the dead as well as the newborn” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.47). The novel also reveals that based on the views of societal power, gender roles in the medical environment and personal values, revealed in the diary, women were subordinate to men during this historical time period. Martha Ballard lived and thrived in this inferior atmosphere.
Contrary to having doctors deliver babies today, midwives were called upon to deliver babies during the eighteenth century. There were many more midwives than there were doctors during that time. In addition, Martha served as a midwife, nurse, physician, mortician, pharmacist, and attentive wife simultaneously (40). Aside from being able to deliver babies, midwives were also highly experienced in medical care—they tended to wounds, diagnosed illnesses, and made medicine. Midwives were more accessible and abundant when compared to doctors—they did not require any formal training or education. When the medical field was underdeveloped, the midwives were the leading resource when it was related to medical conflicts.
Presented issues such as lack of nursing opportunities for nursing graduates, lack of respect for the nursing profession and nurses being viewed as a threat by doctors continues to be of an existence today. As a nurse, I feel that it is of high importance to highlight these presented issues from the film not only because they were the most outstanding to me but because the nursing profession needs more
Nursing’s development from an occupation to a profession follows the devotion and sacrifice of many amazing women throughout history. Considered to be one of the oldest professions, women have performed what could be considered nursing duties since the beginning of time. Although there have been many events and many individuals who have contributed to nursing’s evolution from the occupation it was once considered to the profession that now exists, the development of formal education opportunities and scholarly resources and the women who created them is what fascinates me most. Without knowing, each of the following five women helped lay the groundwork for what Lucie Kelly, RN, PhD, FAAN, eventually termed the eight characteristics of a profession
The Grand Midwives, a term we now wish to honor them with, are still among us. Some are with us in spirit, and a few are still with us today. Two midwives who told their stories before passing on were, Onnie Lee Logan in her book, Motherwit, An Alabama Midwife 's Story, and Why Not Me ? The story of Gladys Milton, Midwife by Wendy Bovard and Gladys Milton. One midwife of a few still living is Margaret Charles Smith from Alabama. You can read her story in her book titled Listen To Me Good: The Story of an Alabama Midwife. These three midwives have shared their story with us so that we can understand our history in Midwifery. Midwives can be found throughout the United States and across the sea. In many states Midwifery is still unlawful. Some states have managed to pass laws that have made midwifery a free state to practice in. Those who practice laid midwifery in restricted states do so because they believe that families ought to have the right to birth where they want and to be attended by whom they choose. They believe in freedom and exercise this belief as Harriet Tubman once did. Many midwives today believe they were called to serve the pregnant mother as the midwives of yesterday. They serve with pride and dignity, something that no man will ever take away. As long as there are mothers upon the stool, there will always be
Angelou once said, “The people may forget the nurses name, but they will never forget how that nurse made them feel.” Nursing is a profession. Unfortunately, nursing does not always get the credit it deserves because of these stereotypes. Nursing is not a gay profession for males. Due to the shortage of nurses, our society needs more nurses now than never. Nurses make a difference in almost every person’s lives just not in hospital rooms but also in schools and clinics. Nursing in not easy job but somebody has to do it. There has to those individuals who must take on this challenge and be the difference in someone’s life. People could not care if someone considers them a failure for being a nurse and not a doctor. Most doctors could not do their job effectively without the help and assistance of nurses. The money is there for those who think nurses does not get paid that much. Healthcare is one of the biggest factors in our world, and for our world to progress further, an increase in employment for nursing is necessary. These stereotypes should not and will not stop the field of nursing from
Mary Eliza Mahoney was born May 7, 1845 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Smith, J, & Phelps, S, 1992) Mary Mahoney was the first African American professional nurse. She spent over 40 years as a private duty nurses going to sick people’s homes nursing them back to health. She was such a wonderful private duty nurse that after joining a nursing directory, Mary was called upon time after time by the families that hired her all over the country near and faraway. Mary Mahoney was a member of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada now known as the American Nurses Association (ANA) since 1896. (Webster, Raymond B, 1999) She was also one of the first members of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) which was a minority nursing organizations that was focused on equality for African-American nurses comparable to that of non minority nurses. Mary was named chaplain of the organization and was later named a lifetime member. After her death on January 4, 1926 from breast cancer the National Association of Colored Graduates Nurses named an award in honor of Mary Eliza Mahoney, after the NACGN was disbanded in 1951 the American Nurses Association continued the Mary Eliza Mahoney award. (Webster, Raymond B, 1999)
During the mid-twentieth century American’s view of nurses was drastically changing according to Judd & Sitzman the authors of “A History of American Nursing: Trends and Eras.” Prior to this time period the job of a nurse was not something that was very valued. The women who chose this work were not looked upon as highly as they are today. Judd & Sitzman write that during this time “nurses were respected, revered, and deemed professionals; they were portrayed in recruitment posters.” Nursing was now a profession women could actually seek to do outside of the home that was not frowned upon. Nursing was now being viewed as a valued profession. The mere fact that there were recruitment posters being created and displayed proves this point.
...re opportunities for nurses. Today’s demand for skilled nurses significantly outweighs the supply of such professionals. In an economically challenged background, all nations are actively looking for ways to change healthcare by expanding value in the care delivery systems. For nurses, everyone’s role adds value to the patients, the communities, the countries, and the world. The development and evolution of nursing is associated with the historical influences throughout different ages. The study of the history of nursing helps understand the issues that confronted the profession. It also allows nurses to gain the appreciation they deserve for playing the role of caring for patients during wartime. The role of the profession has played an important part of history. Through the history, each nurse has efficiently established the achievements of the history of nursing.
The history of nursing important to understand because it can help our professionals today to know why things are the way it is now and can have solutions to unsolvable problems from history. Captain Mary Lee Mills was an African-American woman born in Wallace, North Carolina in August 1912. She was a role model, an international nursing leader, and a humanitarian in her time. She joined many nursing associations, she participated in public health conferences, gained recognition and won numerous awards for her notable contributions to public health nursing. Her contributions throughout her lifetime made a huge impact on the world today and has changed the lives of how people live because of her passion for public health nursing. She always
Registered nurses work to contribute good health and prevent illness. They also treat patients and help go through there rehabilitation and also give support and advice to patients family. Registered nurses are general-duty nurses who focus in the achievement of caring for their patients. They are under the supervision of a doctor. As I researched this career It brought more questions to my life. It became a big interest that soon I would have an opportunity to answer my own questions obviously with the help of others.
A theory I can relate to is Nightingales theory, I found her theory to be extremely interesting. A patient health is affected by the environment that they are in, whether it is at the hospital or at their house. Once a patient is discharged the nurse should be aware of the patient home environment, what they have access to, and what they don’t have.
Prior to reading these articles, I really only had a basic idea of what a midwife was. I had thought that their only role was delivering babies but through the readings, I was shown that the delivery was only a small part of what midwives did. One really big thing I noticed was that being a midwife was probably the closest thing a woman could do to have similar rights and freedoms of a man. For instance woman who were midwives were granted some form of education through apprenticeships and manuals. So far, as learned through this course, I have learned that it was not very common for women to get any form of education for women other that learning how to tend to their household, yet the midwives were given both the home life of a woman and the work life of a man. Midwives were not only taught how to birth children, but also other medical practices such as healing, and even preforming the religious ceremony of baptism. Midwives were also active members of society in their own community which man women did not have
Florence Nightingale, named after the city of Florence, was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12, 1820. She would pursue a career in nursing and later find herself studying data of the soldiers she so cringingly looking after. Born into the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale took the lead role amongst her and her colleges to improve the inhabitable hospitals all across Great Britten; reduce the death count by more than two-thirds. Her love for helping people didn’t go unnoticed and would continue to increase throughout her life. In 1860 she opened up the St. Tomas’ Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses before passing August 13, 1910 in London. Her willingness to care for her patients was never overlooked and wound establishing
Nursing has been and always will be a profession that is constantly changing. Nurses were once prostitutes, thieves, and women who were forced to practice as a nurse instead of serving jail time. Today, however, nursing is looked at as one of the most respected and well-regarded careers. There were several people who contributed to the change in nursing from years ago to what it is today. Virginia Henderson was one of those people. Called the first lady of nursing by many, Henderson is credited with creating the definition of nursing.