Timeline: Historical Development of Nursing Science

Theory is an arrangement of thoughts meant to describe something. These thoughts and ideas usually have basic principles that validate the purpose of the proposed theory. Nursing theory is a well thought out scholarly structure of concepts. These concepts are created to help guide nursing practice. They explain the fundamentals of nursing care. Multiple clinical decisions are based upon nursing theories. There are many different types of nursing theories developed primarily by nurses. Nursing theorist’s main goal is to examine nursing practice and explain the working or non-working parts

Florence Nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing. Her contributions and influence not only to the nursing profession, but to the public health care system, is unparalleled. She was instrumental in establishing multiple processes and practices that are still in current practice. She has influenced many nursing theorist and prevailing theories during her career. Many of her changes continue to influence theory development today.

Prior to the foundation of modern nursing, nuns and the military often provided nursing-like services. Florence Nightingale is the founder of modern nurses. she formed the base for the first professional nursing philosophy. She saw the role of nursing as 'having charge of somebody’s health' (Crisp&Taylor,2009) based on the knowledge of how to put the body in such a state to be free of disease or to recover from disease' (Crisp&Taylor,2009). The religious and military roots of modern nursing remain in evidence today in many countries, for example in the United Kingdom, senior female nurses are known as sisters. It was during time of war that a significant development in nursing history arose when

Treating the sick people is not a recent practice; communities have cared for the ill through history, beginning in ancient times. "Nursing has been around for centuries, but it was not always considered a profession" (History of Nursing in the United States, 2015). The word nurse derives from the Latin word meaning to nourish. People have been performing many nursing skills for centuries but nursing in its present form began to come into view only in the early 19th century. "The first known nurse, Phoebe, was mentioned in Romans 16:1. During the early years of the Christian Church, St. Paul sent a deaconess Phoebe to Rome as the first visiting nurse. She took care of both women and men" (DeWit, 2009). Nursing is the largest, diverse, and passionate competency, one of the most appreciated and valued of all the health care professions from ancient until these days. The demand for nursing remains high and real suggestion that such demand will substantively increase in the course of history in accordance of needs of the societies worldwide.

Nursing theory empowers the development of nursing knowledge and provides principles to support practice. Nursing theory shapes the nursing practice and provides a method for expressing key ideas concerning the essence of nursing practice. Nursing theories are originated from various concepts and defines their interrelationships and giving a systematic view of nursing related events. The purpose of nursing theory is to define, explain, predict and, or prescribe. Nursing theory is used in all phases of nursing care ad assist the practicing nurse to organize, understand and analyze patient data. They serve to guide assessment, intervention, and evaluation of nursing care. Nursing theory facilitates a systematic, consistent way of thinking about

“Nursing theorists are the men and women in the nursing field who develop models of nursing. Often, they don't set out to develop a nursing theory, instead, they simply want to help improve nursing care for their patients, and the theory develops as a result. Once a method is established as a theory or model of nursing, it is integrated into the practice of nursing, as well as added to the study of nursing.”

The purpose of this paper is to discuss four key historical developments in nursing research and its utilization. Nursing research is the “scientific process that validates and refines the existing knowledge and generates knowledge that directly and indirectly influences clinical nursing practice” (Burns & Grove, 2007, pg. 548). Whereas nursing research utilization, is the process of taking the products of nursing research and applying them to practice in order to improve patient care. This discussion will include the research advancements of Florence Nightingale and the creation of the National Center for Nursing Research (NCNR) and the publication of Image, the Sigma Theta Tau Journal, and the Conduct and

Today, nurses are not only direct healthcare provider but also, they are healthcare organization leaders and policy makers as such it is impossible to achieve a greater role without consideration of nursing theory that provide professional foundation that is necessary for growth, excellence, and survival (Gonzalez, 2008). As any other discipline, nursing should be practiced on grand and solid central theory scientifically and systematically developed based on previous utilization of knowledge and skills. However, nursing theory is not an end but rather a means to an end. Therefore, it is an ongoing process that is always open for improvement and refinement. In today's world of evidence-based practice, nursing theory is not static but a dynamic.

The importance of nursing science grounded in nursing theory is that the knowledge base for the discipline of nursing is drawn from nursing theories. Nursing theories serve as the foundation from which nurses use to guide, describe, predict, and generate further knowledge to be applied in nursing practice to help guide everyday nurses and research to help nurses understand and move forward in the development of theoretical knowledge and education (Smith & Parker, 2015).

Wellness model were body systems are exposed to both internal and external stressors (Masters, 2014).

Florence Nightingale is the founder of nursing. She would be very pleased for her achievements. She believed that nursing was an act which required organized, practical, and scientific training. She also believed in research, collecting data, and advanced education for nurses which would help them to better their skills in taking care of patients. Florence noticed that something has to be change in health care and this change has to be quick.

Nursing science was defined in 1978 by Donaldson and Crowley as “principles and laws that govern life process, well- being, and optimum functioning of human beings-sick or well…; patterning of human behavior in interaction with the environment in critical life situations… and process by which positive changes in health status are affected (Donaldson, S. K. & Crowley, M. 1978 p. 113).

The history of theoretical and scientific approach in nursing evolution rooted in mid-1800s by the founder and pioneer of modern nursing; Florence Nightingale. She was considered “The Lady with the Lamp” and “The Mother of Modern Nursing “. Florence Nightingale was born in Florence Italy on May 12, 1820. She grew up with the belief that her religious calling was to take care of other people. She started her work during the Crimean war. Her amazing management skills and her ability to provide nursing care to the healthy and wounded soldiers, using her great base knowledge and understanding about the cause and effect of disease and the influence of the environment in healing

The innovator of nursing theories was Florence Nightingale. There is a reason this name rings a bell even amongst people who are not members of the medical profession. She singled handedly changed nursing as we know it. There was a time when the name Florence Nightingale would have drawn a blank but in 2007 the writer’s significant other

There were many influential people within history who helped evolve nursing into the practice it is today such as Elizabeth Fry. She founded the ‘Protestant Sisters Charity’ where nurses who attended would undertake education through observations of patients on a nursing programme. News spread to Germany to begin and then to other parts of the world, but within Germany, a now dubbed heroine, called Florence Nightingale undertook similar training of that devised by Elizabeth Fry and completed a two year training programme. When she helped in the Crimean War by using her training, she