The Nurse And Child Health Care

Before the existence of the Great War, America had fought in previous wars. In the years before the Great War nursing was not even a word for the women who had helped with the aid of fallen soldiers. Florence Nightingale, who helped in establishing nursing as a career used her efforts in organizing an emergency nursing service (Dahlman 2). Nightingale started off at first with forty women, some of whom were Sisters of Religious Nursing Orders and others hospital-taught women of the old school, not trained in the modern way, but experienced (Dahlman 3). Florence Nightingale founded the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas’ Hospital which was the parent of the modern system of nursing. From her, therefore, we may well date the story of nursing service of the American Red Cross (Dahlman 4).

The role of Australian nurses in World War ll was extremely important and without their presence both at the front and at home the death rate of Australian soldiers would have been much higher. Never before in a war were women expected to be at risk as much as the men. They should be acknowledged along with the men who served. World War ll used many more ways to harm people. World War ll involved nuclear power and warfare, genocide, submarines, tanks and was fought in many places/country’s including air, land and the ocean. 1

I qualified as a paediatric nurse in 2006 and have over 10 years experience working in a variety of roles mostly acute services as outlined above.

Women were involved in all land, sea and air services in support of military efforts. Only five per cent served overseas, most of which were nurses. Though not in combat, many nurses were in danger, some even lost their lives as they worked in or near combat areas. Betty Jeffrey was a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service when she was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore. As a result of incarceration by the Japanese for three and a half years, Betty suffered from Beri Berii, tuberculosis and amoebic dysentery which she never fully recovered from. This exhibits the jeopardy that both women and men face during wartime. Other military services that women assisted in include: The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), The Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS), The Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) and The Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS). Women in these services had a range of duties, from highly approved - officers – to ordinary – drivers, typists, clerks and wireless operators. Australian women were substantially regarded and their roles in society changed immensely.

Children get injured or sick every day, and it doesn’t matter whether the child goes to a doctor or a pediatrician they are still tended to by a pediatric nurse. A pediatric nurse has to have many qualities. They also have to take many different classes. A pediatric nurse’s pay can vary from location to location depending on where they are working. Pediatric nurses must endure many different things to make it into this particular work field, and have many different qualities.

As a result of the bombings, Australians started caving in to the possibility of a Japanese invasion, where the Japanese pilots displayed an attack of might and patriotism. A spirited fight from the Australians saw four Japanese planes destroyed, but the true heroes were the nurses, who nursed injured civilians and soldiers back to health. Their heroic actions were admired by the public, as shown in the Barrier Miner newspaper, saying “Heroic nurses at Darwin”, and they displayed hope and resilience on a dark day in Australian

December 7, 1941 a date that will forever be remembered in American history, was the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan. The air in the country after the attack was that of patriotism and determination to defend the nation. America’s involvement in World War II had a profound effect on the profession of nursing. In the time frame of the war nursing saw influences and changes take place within the creation of the National Nursing Council for War, the shortage in nurses, the expansion of nursing practice used while in flight, the view of African Americans serving their country, and the post-war affects of nursing when the war ended.

These female nurses provided medical help for the wounded soldiers at Gallipoli and also on the Western Front. As most of the hospital stations were near the front line many nurses were exposed to aerial bombs and shelling. They were expected to work in primitive conditions; some hospitals were equipped for a mere 520 people yet held 2500 during the wartime. As a result of the long hours and poor conditions many nurses suffered serious illnesses. A total of 2139 Australian nurses served overseas and of these 25 died. Through enduring such adverse conditions nurses proved extreme dedication towards the war effort and their country.

These early nurses were quickly educated on the rigors of war and the primitive accommodations. Hundreds of women lasted little more than a month and for those that did last the work became gratifying and their Christian mission. At the bloodiest moments of the war, nurses braved heat of moment and offered selflessly to treat injured. These ladies

Envision for a moment what the responsibilities of a working nurse consist of each day. As you can imagine their days are filled with patient care, paperwork, doctor calls, and busy hospital activities. That was not always the case, nursing during the 1940’s was nothing like today. There was a lack of Organized nursing because institutions providing formal nursing education were unavailable. In fact most nurses at that time were stay at home moms. These women volunteered at local military hospitals. Virginia Benson 2013 stated, “At first nurses of both sides confined their duties to religious counsel, aiding in mortally wounded soldier to face a “good death”, and writing about that death to his family.” All of these new changes for women occur during

Once they arrived in the war zone, Army, Navy, and Air Force nurses experienced professional strains of working with young, severely wounded casualties who were often younger than them. A Navy nurse recalled,

The nurse explored in this essay is registered nurse, midwife and child health care nurse Ellen Savage. Savage joined the Australian Army Nursing Service in early 1941, here she served in the Australian General Hospital in Concord, Sydney (Gendek, 2007; Prior, 2013). March of 1942, Savage was posted to board the Australian Hospital ship the Centaur where she would collect injured service men from Papua New Guinea (Daly, Speedy & Jackson, n.d.; Gendek, 2007). Early morning of the 14th of May the Centaur was hit by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine causing the ship to sink in under three minutes (Gendek, 2007; Prior, 2013). Ellen was the only nurse to survive the attack, however she did obtain severe injuries of her own including fractured ribs, fractured nose and palate, perforated eardrums and multiple bruising including a badly bruised eye (Daly, Speedy & Jackson, n.d.; Gendek,

Firstly, Australian nurses made a huge impact in WWI by serving the Australian soldiers who fought for our country. They served in England, France, Belgium, Egypt, Palestine, India and Greece. 2139 Women served overseas but most if the nurses worked in military hospitals in Australia. On July 1, 1902, the Australian army nursing service was created. It was a backup unit which staffed by part-time, volunteer civilian nurses. They served in hospitals, hospital ships and hospitals made by tents with no floor. They helped and cared for 1000 men. They were even at the risk of getting contagious diseases from the soldiers. Even with all these devastating events happening, they still put smiles on their faces and comforted the soldiers. They said

In the fall of 1862, a war raged between the union and confederate forces at the Battle of Antietam. More than 130,000 soldiers fought, more than 22,000 were wounded. On the battlefront was a woman, Ms. Clara Barton, nicknamed the “Angel of the Battlefield”. Ms. Barton observed the strain of frontline battle, namely hunger, sickness, and wounds and once said “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them”. (CITATION) It is this same dedication to nursing and our armed forces that drives my philosophy of nursing.

Pediatric Care Nurses have a demanding job that is often overlooked by most. People do not take into account how much a nurse will give to his or her patient, especially considering that patient is most likely a child between the ages of infancy to eighteen (“How Nurses”). The patients, being very young, can attribute to the amount of stress the nurse feels to do his or her best which can in some form bring an emotional factor into the mix, especially if the nurse has children himself/herself (Izumi 203). While being a pediatric care nurse, emotions play a large role in the way these professionals do their job. A step back is needed to see the emotional and physical stress these pediatric care nurses face when doing their job.