The history of nursing and its practices are very historic and can be noted that it started at the beginning of human life. Prior to the Greek and Roman times, ancient Egyptians are credited to have created over 700 therapeutic therapies that were used for multiple health concerns. The advancements continued but were quickly stopped after the Roman Empire was conquered and the Dark Ages had begun. All knowledge that was still accessible about health care was done so and was continued through the works of Jewish physicians. (Kalisch and Kalisch, 1986). Through the rise of Christianity, the Holy Wars, and the Victorian Era; nursing practice was growing tremendously through evidence based practice (EBP). The most common example of EBP we learn about today is the legacy of Florence Nightingale. Based on her knowledge of effective nursing practice she was able to reduce the death rate of soldiers by two-thirds in the Crimean War by simply improving the unsanitary conditions around the area. Her works started a health care reform around the world and still to this day her ideas and dreams are still being influenced in the nursing field. Since her time through EBP more scientific and technological advances have been made. “One could argue that nothing will change the way nursing is practiced more than current advances in technology (Huston, 2013)” The current advances in technology in nursing has changed the healthcare field tremendously. I am amazed at the progress that is
Evidence based practice has been seen as far back as the 1700s and there is even some evidence tracing back to Ancient Egypt. (Dillard, 2017) The first randomized control test for EBP was in 1747 by James Lind. (Dillard, 2017) Lancaster used a sailing voyage to test the theory that scurvy could be prevented in sailors by use of citrus juice. The results from his experiment were dramatic but were not published for another 7 years. Even after it was published it took another 40 years before ships implemented having citrus juice for sailors. (Dillard, 2017) One of our most prominent figures in nursing, Florence Nightingale, is credited with evaluating and then changing practice standards in our field. (Brower, 2017) One of her greatest examples was implementing the change of using hot water with soap instead of just cold
Nursing education is constantly evolving as new techniques are introduced within the medical profession. Thus, it is imperative nurses are kept updated, and continuously learning new methods to enhance and improve patient care. Over the last 150 years there has been a drastic change in nursing`s participation in research. Nursing research advanced initially from the investigations made by Nightingale in the nineteenth century of nursing education during the 1930`s. This further progressed to the research of nursing roles in 1950s following on to the 1990s where nurses began to focus on clinical problems and finding solutions to these problems which had a major impact within the nursing profession. As of today many health professionals are focusing on clinical research which in turn has helped to establish an evidence informed practice for nurses. (Burns and Grove 2003)
Florence Nightingale was an immense impact on nursing, who “became famous for her revolutionary work as a nurse during the Crimean War” (Kent 30). “She dedicated her life to improving conditions in hospitals, beginning in an army hospital during the Crimean War,” (3 Registered). Her actions were then used by “concerned individuals, rather than by professionally trained nurses” during the Civil War, (Registered 279). Many of Nightingale’s ideas were brought into modern times, but with the improvement of technology and licensed nurses. With the influence and patience of Florence Nightingale, nursing has evolved into an outstanding career.
The history of the Nurse Anesthetist dates back prior to the Civil War and were considered by many as the pioneers of the practice of anesthesia. As the complexity of administering anesthesia increased, physicians deemed the practice of anesthesia to be equivalent to the practice of medicine. As time progressed, some physicians attempted to have the practice of anesthesia banned from the nursing scope of practice. It was not until a case was brought in front of the California Supreme Court where they ultimately established the legal precedent granting nurse anesthesia its legality. Specifying that nurses can administer anesthesia and that they would be operating under their scope of practice as long as it was done under the guidance of a supervising physician (Hamric, Tracy, & O 'Grady, 2014). That law was federally mandated until 2001, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid changed the federal supervision rule of Anesthesiologist and Nurse Anesthetists in order for facility to receive reimbursement of care ("Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists Fact Sheet", 2016). This offered states an “opt-out” rule allowing the unsupervised practice of nurse anesthetists. This change led to conflict in the anesthesia community between physicians and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) as the debate of a CRNA’s ability to practice autonomously was now the center of attention. With the costs of healthcare rising and the
There have been many influential publications, agencies, and people in the field of nursing research. Write 1–3 sentences in each cell of the table below to describe the importance, goal, or influence of each item.
Nursing has changed over time from the instruments that are used, the process that procedures are done, and many medical advances. Nursing back in the Florence Nightingale days did not have specialties like we do today either. Nursing has a whole has progressed significantly since then. I believe that the history of nursing is important because we as nurses need to know where we come from and how this profession became what it is today. Without many prominent nurses such as Florence Nightingale, Mary Breckinridge, Agatha Cobourg Hodgins, and Adda Eldredge nursing would not be what it is today. The American Association for the History of Nursing is an association that nurses can join if they have an interest in the history of
The folk image of nursing is one that is seen in movies or read about in books. This is the image of the medicine man or village healer. The knowledge in this type of nursing was handed down one generation at a time and primarily cared for the children and elderly of the social groups. The religious image of nursing is from a time when nuns or religious ambassadors took over the primary responsibilities of taking care of the poor, sick and elderly. Not too far a concept from this was the servant image of nursing which was marked by a time when the undesirables of society were charged with caring for the sick and elderly. During times of war, the need for nurses increased and
It was the twentieth century when two-thousand hospitals were put up in the United States. After the wars ended, there were few nursing jobs because of the large number of nurses. As a result, nursing became an “honorable profession,” which required college degrees. Technological advances were well thought out and processed as nursing began to thrive. People began to study an environment in which the sick healed. Scientists and doctors developed a routine that would help them study the human body more precisely.
Throughout history, society has considered women to be the natural caregivers of children, family, and community. Women were naturally thought of as nurses because the act was said to be an extension of their role in the home. They were called in to homes to help deliver babies or as wet nurses to breastfeed. In the 1800’s, women began taking care of soldiers. It was then that Florence Nightingale cared for soldiers in the Crimean War. During this time she revolutionized the role by setting standards of cleanliness and reducing infection. The legacy of nursing continues to be enriched by those who continue to follow the example of nursing pioneers. They refuse to be bound by others’ views
In this paper, we are going to be looking at historical roles impacting the field of nursing. This will be accomplished by focusing on: how self-regulatory issues and social perceptions impacted career decisions. Once this occurs, is when we can show how these issues have led to changes and the improvement of professional standards.
The topic of this paper is to identify historical events in nursing. This topic grasps my attention because I am on the track to become a nurse, and feel I need to know about the history of nursing. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader about historical highlights in nursing.
In the world history of nursing, roots can be traced to religion, mythology, and Eastern and Western societies. The ancient Egyptians utilized perhaps the first formal nurses, hiring them to assist in childbirth. It is from these beginnings that today's midwives evolved.
Visiting home health nurses are a well-known profession and becoming more popular as time grows. The service of public health nursing was carried out on the frontier by nurses under the name of “Visiting nurse services” which were part of the late 19th century health reform out of ‘The Henry Street House’ in 1893, as discussed in the film “Nursing in America – A History of Social Reform”. They held many roles outside of nursing, those roles and missions and struggles will be discussed.
The evolution of nursing as a profession had showed through time that it is both an art and science. Before the 19th century, the military and religious orders are the ones who perform the duties of how nurses work today. As time went by, different events throughout history such as wars and epidemics had shaped nursing to its present organization. Nowadays, nursing is pushing further towards the future in improving itself as a profession for better care and service to the community. The objective of this paper is to discuss the historical development of
Upon considering the past and future of nursing, many changes have already taken place, and even larger changes are expected. With the recent rate of technological development, the heath care system is certain to follow in its advances at nearly the same pace. Many predictions for the future of medicine are based on computerized technology. The use of telemonitoring, video and “smart houses” are already being used by some companies today, and will be utilized more frequently in the future. This will enable one nurse to care for many more patients than he/she is capable of safely caring for currently. This is very important due to the baby-boomer generation growing older and the