Nursing in Society

“If a patient is cold, if a patient is feverish, if a patient is faint, if he is sick after taking food, if he has a bed-sore, it is generally the fault of not of the disease, but of the nursing. I use the word nursing for want of a better” (Nightingale, 1860, p. 8). While Nightingale stressed the impact of one’s environment to promote healing, Virginia Henderson aimed to establish on the fundamental needs as a knowledge base to guide Professional nursing practice. Henderson emphasized on fourteen components required for effective nursing care which includes: breathing normally, eating and drinking adequately, elimination of body wastes, movement and posturing, sleep and rest, select suitable clothes-dress and undress, maintaining body temperature, keeping body clean and well groomed, avoiding dangers in the environment, communication, worship according to one’s faith, work accomplishments, play or participate in various forms of recreation, and learn, discover, or satisfy the curiosity (Fernandes et al., 2015). Her division of the fourteen components acknowledged patient needs with a holistic approach that is applied through the nursing process in a clinical setting.

The social contract of nursing encompasses the responsibilities of the nursing profession and other health care professionals entrusted by society. Through this contract, nurses are expected to function and have the responsibility to provide all members of society who need medical care regardless of their cultural, social, spiritual and economic status with honest and respectful service keeping in mind the public’s trust. Furthermore, it is expected that medical professionals and nurses provide individuals, families and the community the best possible care. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the social covenant of nursing in relation to the controversial and ethical issues behind the use of Henrietta Lacks’ cells (HeLa) in

Nursing care was unscientific and consisted of assisting patients with usual body functions; and was typically administered by women of a religious order or by women who by nature of their lifestyle frequented hospitals. Hospital care was for the poor and destitute; since home based medical care was better than risking additional infections in the dirty, crowded, and disease-ridden hospitals. During the typhus epidemic of 1852, hospital staff and patients suffered the greatest morbidity and mortality. (Ranade , 199817-19)

This paper will discuss various aspect of the future of health care focusing on the future of how nursing will play an ever-important role in the reformation of health care. Presentation regarding, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the future of nursing, at the Institute of Medicine report entitled, “Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” will help set the stage for this paper. Discussion will be had regarding the relationship of the Institute of Medicine to that of the nursing profession and the foreseeable changes to practice based on the Institute of Medicines recommendations. Further discussion will be had no the

The four spheres of political action in nursing as mentioned by Mason, Leavitt, and Chaffee (2011) includes the workplace or workforce, the government, the organizations, and the community. The authors further stated that although the four spheres overlap at times, the action performed in any one of these spheres can cause a reaction in any of the others. Nurses are a part of the community in which they live and can influence health and social policy within their workplace, which can have a profound impact on the organization. Furthermore, the government can pass health care policies, which in turn causes the organization to change their policy. Thus, affecting healthcare providers in the workplace and the community at large. An example of

The environment theory of nursing is a patient-care theory. The delivery of patient centered care is the best delivery of care a patient can receive. Applying Nightingales environmental care theory of manipulation of the patient environment can affect the patient and assist in the delivery of quality of care. The concept of a clean patient environment has an effect on the patient’s recovery and the prevention of spread of diseases (Harvard Libraries, 2012). Using Florence Nightingales environmental theory and concepts will give a

Florence Nightingale, born in 1820, revolutionized nursing as it is today. Throughout her time working with the wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, she noted that more soldiers were dying of infections than from wounds. Therefore, she worked to ensure sanitation as well as sufficient health and healing practices amongst her patients. From care to prevention, Nightingale’s practices were able to set the foundation for nurses today. Nightingale distinguished that a healthy environment is essential to one’s health and thus her tenets of ventilation, cleanliness, light, as well as nutrition set the bases of the City of Toronto’s tuberculosis program for the under-housed, homeless, and the correctional population.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) will have a great effect on nursing. According to this article nursing will have to change it role in the ACA and the three main categories that need to be changed and redeveloped is transforming practice, education and leadership.

I will be summarizing Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not by Florence Nightingale. Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not was first published in 1860 with the last edition being published in 1969 (Adams-Wending, 2010). Nightingale’s theory addresses the importance of providing an environment that is conducive to the healing process for patients (Nightingale, 1860). Nightingale’s theory of the environment was based off the idea that disease was caused by smell of decomposing matter (Adams-Wending, 2010). The theory is broken down into thirteen “canons” of nursing (Nightingale, 1860). The thirteen topics within this theory are: ventilation and warming, health of houses, petty management, noise, variety, taking food, what food?, bed and bedding, cleanliness of rooms and walls, personal cleanliness, chattering of hope and advices, and observations of the sick. Nightingale (1860) states that ventilation is to make the air the patient breaths as fresh as the air outside. This also goes into detail of removing chamber pots

Health professionals have obligations in regards of protection, promotion and optimization of health abilities to prevent from illness. It helps to guide in focusing the normal principals of care and justice and also motivates certain civic action. Social responsibility is “strongly linked to the values of professions in general and nursing in particular” and that “the underlying constructs of social responsibility, communication and teamwork are woven into the fabric of nursing 's history and its code of ethics”(Kelley,2008). Communication, social responsibility and teamwork, are an integral part of the nursing profession. These three attributes of the profession comes through citizenship. This essay will

She died over 100 years ago but her theory of cleanliness is still a major factor in the way nurses of today are taught hand washing and cleanliness to promote health and well-being. The local hospital I work for has an Infection Control department that monitor hand-washing of employees. The department gives a monthly grade to each department. Florence Nightingale is the mother of nursing, she continues to impact nurses and the nursing profession every day. F. Scenario

From social sciences to nursing, theoretical frameworks guide everyday practice (De Chesnay & Anderson, 2016). Interdisciplinary efforts are key to ensuring forward progress toward social justice goals. Nursing, as a profession based on caring, has a calling to advocate for the betterment of humanity, but we cannot stand alone in this effort. This paper will include a discussion of several theoretical frameworks that are associated with social justice, including critical social theory, liberation theology, Leininger’s Theory of Cultural Care, and Cockerham’s Health Lifestyle Theory. From social science and theology to nursing, these theories will tie together to develop an advanced practice nursing role that effectively promotes social justice.

The nursing profession is one of many portrayed by the media. In its simplest form media is how information is shared and stored. Media covers a wide range of services, advertisements, brochures, pamphlets, TV shows, films, novels, and magazines, digital, electronic, it goes on and on. Media is more accessible these days; the internet and wireless technology makes it easy for many people to access information on a wide scale. As information is shared by the media the public creates an image. This image may be right or it can be wrong, it all depends on the media’s accuracy. Nurses have been depicted in many forms over the years. These depictions can influence the public’s opinion of the profession as well as the likelihood that the profession will be considered for future students. Nurses need to take a more active role in how the profession is portrayed by the media, they need to work together to portray the profession in its best light in order to recruit and retain nurses.

Nursing has made much advancement since Nightingale Environmental Theory but the focus on a healthy environment has remained the same. Pulliam (1997) noted in her article that Nightingales’ theory formed a solid foundation for nursing: fresh air, cleanliness, clean water, warmth, proper drainage, plenty of light, and stress free environment provided an optimum environment for healing.

There is an explosive increase of nursing knowledge worldwide. The amount of data nurses use and process in the delivery of care continues to increase daily. The advancement in informatics and computer technology have broad implications for this knowledge explosion and can facilitate the collection, manipulation, and retrieval of essential nursing data for practice and research. (AJPH, 1991). The Nursing Minimum Data Set is a standardized tool used for the collection of important nursing data, which are frequently utilized by nurses to provide accurate evidence- based care. This tool enables healthcare providers and nurses to collect and compare nursing data from different sources, with the purpose of evaluating the information gathered to provide more efficient healthcare services to the patients. According to Friedman, (1990), the invisibility of nursing, is a phenomenon identified as a problem of nursing viewed as critical to patient care, and equally regarded as a low profile position. The absence of coded standardized nursing data that are incorporated into electronic databases, contributes to the invisibility of nursing. Nursing procedures were faulted for supporting evidence and lacked supporting research-based evidence. Nursing documentation did not clearly demonstrate nursing’s value and was not easily accessible or measurable. (Sewell & Thede, 2012). Nurses have always been respected healthcare providers, but the value of nursing documentation