Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper

Module 01 Written Assignment – Legacy of Nursing’s History Select a nurse that historically contributed to the advancement of the profession. Write a 2-3 page paper that responds to the following questions. Identify the nurse and his/her background and complete the following: Provide a brief description of the major social issues occurring at the time this nurse lived Describe two contributions made to nursing Discuss how these two unique contributions influenced nursing as we know it today Minimum length 2-3 pages not including cover or referencing. APA formatting with referencing and in text citation. You may use your textbook, readings and the following for background information. ANA Hall of Fame American Association for the History of Nursing Museum of Nursing History – Slide Show Gallery Strout, K. (2012). Wellness promotion and the Institute of Medicine’s future of nursing report: Are nurses ready? Holistic Nursing Practice 26(3), 129-136. This assignments must have accurate spelling and grammar and use APA Editorial Format for sources and reference. Submit your completed assignment by following the directions linked below. Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper. Please check the Course Calendar for specific due dates. Module 02 Project Assignment – Getting Started Part 1 – Getting Started Balancing School and Life – My Quality of Life Self-Care Plan.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER NOW

The purpose of developing this Plan is to set a framework and a plan to maintain wellness and to stay motivated and engaged throughout your Program. Doing this will help you achieve success during your coursework and as a professional nurse. The goal of the Project is to help you become self-aware and reflective as a means of identifying personal self-care strategies that will increase your energy and help you manage your stress. The Project will give you a chance to learn how this is accomplished as you will be doing similar work with clients during the Program and as a professional nurse to assist them in the same way. Use the Quality of Life Self-Care Wheel to assess your current state. After you determine your scores, in a 2-3 page paper complete the following: Discuss those areas that are strengths (higher scores) and those areas that need further development (lower scores). Identify two strategies you can use to maintain or maximize each identified strength. Identify two strategies you can use to strengthen each area needing development. Explain how you will put these strategies into action. Be specific. For example, instead of stating, “I need to exercise,” your action should state “I will begin to walk 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week.” The action should be SMART- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timeframe

This paper will discuss how Nursing’s History has helped to inform nursing’s future. It will discuss the turn of the twentieth century and the importance of this era on the nursing profession. (Brodie, 2010) The development of nursing education and Florence Nightingale’s contribution to modern day nursing (Hoyt, 2010). Possibilities for the future, which will enable further social standing and the prominence of nursing as a profession. (Fairman, 2012)

The study of nursing history helps us to better understand the issues of autonomy, unity, supply and demand, salary, and current practice. Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper

Learning from the role models of history, make positive changes in the present and provide options for the future. Provides the ability to make improvements on past practices and creating a sense of best practice. (Brodie, 2010).

Florence Nightingale is considered to be the founder of modern day nursing. She was influential in the development of nursing education, practice, and administration. (Hoyt, 2010) Nightingale’s work served to establish nearly all the advancements that would arise in the nursing profession in the coming decades. Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper

It was from her work, Notes on Nursing, set the tone for all theories that followed.

Prior to 1840, no formal education was provided to people who cared for the ill. These skills and lessons commonly provided in the form of generational learning or trial and error. The care of the sick usually fell to women of a lower social standing or class who were unable to obtain any other work. Nightingale identified the need for formal training of nurses and workers in the public health arena. There has been substantial growth in the innovation of the nursing profession; there have been advanced nursing programs established due to the ‘increasing complexities of modern nursing’. The turn of the twentieth century saw the creation of professional nursing organisations that allowed our profession to be self-regulated, this included formal training and competency standards. (Brodie, 2010).

Given that Nursing evolved into the self regulated profession it is, provides the opportunity to have a strong stance in the negotiations and establishment of appropriate working conditions, working hours arrangements and collective agreements. These negotiations and agreements were made later in the 20th century and now stand as a benchmark for generations of nurses to follow. (D’Antonio, 2010)

The history of nursing provides current day nursing teachers, leaders and professional’s insight into opportunities and possibilities in our profession, aiding us to be accountable for our actions and enables us to provide comment and feedback on potential improvements. (Fairman, 2012) It enables a review of procedures and policy and make recommendations for improvement. It confers the opportunity to be integral in policy implementation for the betterment of health care available to the public. Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper

‘Virginia Nursing History’ is a website that was created in 2001; the site is overall a very useful and provides a nice perspective on leadership in nursing in Virginia from around 1900 to the near present. (Gibson, 2009) Gibson highlit the importance of websites such as this to show the progress and steps that have been made in the nursing profession. It highlights the extraordinary work that high performing nurses have accomplished and the prominent members of the nursing community. Gibson mentions that the work done by nurses tends to go unnoticed or unreported and tools such as this, using modern day technology (internet) to show the progression of our profession.

Having knowledge of the history of nursing helps us to understand where nursing came from and how nursing evolved as a profession throughout time. It provides us with the opportunity to reflect on how things were and why we do things the way we do. It shows us that we have grown from being regarded as the lowest working class, ones who didn’t require training or education. Transformed to a profession highly regarded for its intensive training and requirements, which are providing us with the capability to grow, expand and continue to firm the foundation for future potential nurses. The generational change and progression have given us prominent stance in the public health arena. Thanks to the evolution of nursing and the timeline of growth we, as nurses, are respected and are in a position to continue to grow and improve. Given the growth in our profession and interesting point to ponder is, where will nursing as a profession be in decades to come?

Despite of all the portrayal from the mass media or the public perception, the true definition of nursing can only assist in articulating the key concept into words, considering how sophisticated the definition of nursing can be hardly dealt or overcome with stereotypes and misunderstandings of nursing that even exist post-modernity. Post-modernity explained reality through observation, perception and experience as human beings lived within and encounter the world (Lawler.J and Newman.S, Sydney Nursing School, 2011). Presently, there are more and more specialised nurses such as the clinicians, researchers and a nurse educator who advanced themselves to understand and decipher the work and role of nursing from a ambiguous , unverified thoughts to a consistent organised concepts of nursing (Shaw ,1993). Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper

In the past, nurses in the institutions were dominated by females to care for the sick. That was how it was being portrayed and accepted by not just the public but to female nurses ourselves. Before the 4th century, there were no male nurses working in a institutions. They were either discouraged or not accepted by the public eye’s ( Christman, 2001; Sullivan. 2000). Because nursing is seen as a women’s work and insufficient data can prove that man in nursing can generate the same aspects of a female nurse when nursing a patient. Florence Nightingale (1860) also emphasized the role of women as nurses. However, based on Diaconian(1966), he stressed that ‘ there is a place for a masculine character in a predominantly feminine profession.’ (Pg59) . By the mid 20th century , male graduates practically pursued the masculine path of administration, anesthesia, military nursing and highly technological roles ( Wall, 2009). And thus, the participation of male nurses in nursing continue to strive, not many, but at least the perception of male nurses is slowly changing.

During the early civilisation , nurses relied heavily on religious orders to care for the sick and poor. They have no body of knowledge, school of nursing to train nurses or title recognition to verify the competency of a nurse to perform any nursing procedures to the patient. The establishment of an effective nurse was unknown thus resulted in the questionable and degradation of nursing knowledge and professionalism image the public acknowledged. To prevent further ‘traumatisation’ of nursing image, nurses have to be educated and efficient in every aspect. According to Jacobs.S and Jacob.H, ‘nurses themselves must play the leading role in improving their image.’ Nurses should encourage the media to provide a more reliable source of the profession to the society to gain social prestige and at the same time have a more explicit knowledge of what nurses do. There are nursing theories that explains the concept of nursing paradigm which will further explain, describe and predict how nurses function and understand the way it is. The person/client can be an individual, family, or a community. It strives towards the provision of care to the client. According to University of Wisconsin (UW)-Green Bay states that individuals are in collaboration with the nurse who will reinforce the need for self-care. The Lakeview College of nursing also points out that individuals have their own autonomy to make a decision for their own wellness. Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper

The concept of apprenticeship is a means of taking on an individual who will learn the skills and practices that are associated with a given career path. The apprentice is taken under the control of a senior who is well versed in his or her current field over a period of years (Tatum.M, 2011). However, the use of Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition can be very helpful to further explained Benner’s five level of experience such as Novice, advance beginner, competent, proficient and expert. This is a progression from a rule-based problem-solving to a different approach based on past experiences . This will also drive towards clinical knowledge development and career enhancement in clinical nursing( Benner, 1982).

Florence Nightingale, a significant figure in the development of nursing, showed the importance of nursing to the military during the Crimean War. In the Crimean War, there was inadequate care and lack of medical resources for the soldiers in England. Therefore, the secretary of war, Sir Sidney Herbert offered Florence Nightingale a position of female nursing establishment of English General Hospital. As Nightingale took over the appointment, she hand picked 38 females and began to implement changes to provide the battling soldiers humane healthcare. As a result, the mortality rate went up from 42% to 73%. (V. and B. Bullough,1978) Her influence to the military demonstrated proper nursing care significance in a war.  Hence, the armies of Britain, America, France and Canada gave nurses a professional in the management of patient care while mostly were females. Other than influencing the Crimean War, Nightingale also played an influential role in the US Civil War from 1861 to 1865. During the civil war, nurses were given honorable positions in the military. During the wartime, there were other nurses who rose to prominence such as Dorothea Dix, the first superintendent in the Union Army Nurse and Clara Barton who was the founder of the American Red Cross to search for missing soldiers. However, nursing in military was vulnerable in war as World War II suggested. America became involved in the war after the Japanese bombed the Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. As the Japanese advanced to the Philippines, they conducted numerous air strikes. One of the air strikes mission bombed a hospital on 29 March 1942, causing lots of casualties. Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper

The definition of feminism is a compilation of gender equality, establishing and defending equal economic, political status, social rights and unbiased view of a woman. Feminism focuses on mainly women’s issues such as the value of women and standing adamantly for women’s rights . Nursing has always been seen as a woman’s work and thus resulting in the downfall of social status and was paid inadequately or lowly by the particular organization. According to Sullivan, ‘ Women’s work has been denigrated throughout most of the history and continues so today (2002).’ However, Sampselle (1990) mentioned that a nurse who truly view a person holistically in a non-judgmental, caring and accepting perspectives will strive on the uniqueness rather than stereotypical characteristics. Presently, nurses are still trying to make an effort to create a name for themselves, professionally and reputably.

In ancient times, people believed that illness was caused by the sins committed by the sick. All these ill people were usually treated in places of worship such as the churches. In the churches, the sick were took care by the nuns who do not have proper nursing trainings. Experiences taught them valuable skills, especially in the use of drugs and herbs ( Donahue M.P. 1986). In ancient Egypt, some drugs and herbs were used ritually by the priests and medicine men ( Alivihare. A, 1993) Arjuna . During the Greek era, a Greek physician called Hippocrates, introduced the foundation of rational approach to medicine. The Hippocratic Oath founded by him was relevant and still in use today. It was classified into categories such as acute, endemic, chronic and epidemic and use terms such as exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak, and convalescence (Garrison, 1966). After sometime, the Muslim-Arab translated the works of the Greeks and Egyptians into Arab. However, in the 14th and 15th century, Black Death devastated across the Middle East and Europe. Western European was believed to more effective in recovering illness than Middle East ( Dols.M.W, 1977). During the Black Death, there was a major shift from traditional thinking into medicine and science. Soon after came the development of human anatomy, circulatory system and the discovery of bacteria and microorganisms. Modern scientific biomedical research began to replace the Westerners traditional herbalism, the Greek four humors and other pre-modern notions and this led to the development of antibiotics and small pox vaccine. Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper

Nurses have been actively involved with technology in patient care for decades even till now. Based on Singapore General Hospital (SGH) annual report (2009) suggests that being technological-driven not just assist the physicians, nurses or other health care workers but also enhance the standards of practice such as preventing medication errors, decreasing mortality rate, improving patient’s care and many more. Marilyn (2008) also states that ‘technology has the potential to help nurses “know the patient.”‘ Developed countries relied heavily on the use of technology and has been improving constantly to meet the expectations of the economy. Nurses have become accustomed to and experienced in using technology adapted from many arenas for the provision of patient care. Henderson (2006) also supports and encourage the use of technology, ‘ care is dominated by the management of technolgy.’ The collision of healthcare and technology has created an industry that now drives both the cost and the standard of healthcare and it has never stop improving.

ORDER NOW

In conclusion, in order for the continuation and improvement of nursing profession and to gain social prestige from the public. He/ She has to portray the image to the public. The society perceived and get information by the way the other party portrayed themselves. Women have thrived for centuries, involving themselves in a in caring for the family regardless of their status in the society, accepting nursing into a part of their lives. Many factors have influence nursing in many ways, allowing nursing to evolve for the better. Nurses have played a big part in the society and will continue to care for the sick and injured, regardless of stigma, being stereotype as in the current society as ‘high-class maids’. Legacy of Nursing’s History. Legacy of Nursing’s History Essay Paper