Virginia Henderson Essay

Virginia Henderson is famous for her definition of nursing, “The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge, and to do this in such a way as to help him gain independence as rapidly as possible" (Blais, 2012). Her philosophy supports that caring is the foundation, the center of all patient healing.

Virginia Henderson’s contribution to the nursing profession has been very influential. One of her contributions is her well known definition of nursing which request the nurse to be an expert independent practitioner equipped with the right knowledge in basic nursing care to achieve the goals of proper patient care (McCrae, 2012). Her definition along with the fourteen basic needs brought huge changes in nursing practice. The fourteen fundamental needs gives support and assistance to provide proper nursing care. In addition, Henderson also understood the importance of using the nursing process, she stated as part of the nursing process, it was vital for the nurse to collect, analyze and develop an optimal plan of care to ensure the best quality of care and patient outcomes (McCrae, 2012). Henderson defined nursing as a concept. Henderson regarded person, health, environment and nursing as follows, Person: The patient is a person who needs support attaining independence and well-being or sometimes peaceful passing. The body and mind are one entity, not to be separated in care. Patient and

Nightingale, F. (1860).Notes on nursing: what it is and what it is not. New York:D.Appleton And Company.

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.

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.

Imagine a room in a hospital; you are lying on a bed, with linens since your admission, the room is very cold and dark at the same time, without proper ventilation. The bathroom you have does not have proper drainage; outside environment is as noisy as having a construction site as a neighbor. Health care providers come in just for the job and merely not care about you; their hands are not even clean and washed. Imagine these kinds of situation, what kind of environment are you having? Do you a place to heal or a place to die? Since the beginning of Modern Nursing, these scenes are commonly practiced and are usual in a way that it is considered a normal place to rest and be taken care of.

Florence Nightingale, or as soldiers on the battlefield would call her the “Lady with the Lamp”, was an inspirational women of the nineteenth century that had many aspirations and dreams concerning the care of others. Achieving these dreams by “facilitating the reparative processes of the body by manipulating the patient’s environment” (Potter & Perry 2009, p. 45); Nightingale laid the foundations of modern nursing and gave the country and many others a system that has stood the test and remains timeless. In this, Florence has become one of the most widely known nursing theorist to this day.

Nursing has developed as a scientific discipline and is starting to emerge into professional status. Florence Nightingale, also known as the “Lady with the Lamp” was the first female nurse. Although Florence had went through quantities of conflict, she still managed to change the profession of nursing forever.

Nursing has evolved as a scientific discipline and is starting to emerge into professional status. One of the great leaders in nursing who helped this change take place was Florence Nightingale. Nightingale is considered as a pioneer in the nursing profession. She has contributed a lot in the field of nursing and her works are considered as assets, and will be remembered for many years.

Virginia Henderson, one of many nursing theorists, is the one who has defined nursing as “the unique function to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of contributing to health and recovery or to peaceful death with having the necessary strength, will, and knowledge” (Eichelberger & Sitzman, 2011, p. 35). Virginia Henderson applied skills to help the individual gain knowledge as quickly as possible (Eichelberger & Sitzman, 2011, p. 35). Henderson was able to express her views in order to explain the importance of following a patient's chart and the plan of care for the patient’s overall health. Henderson defined fourteen components of basic needs for nursing care, that I one day hope to provide to my own patient. I am

Artillery shells shocked the air with insomnia-causing explosions. Bullets flew through soldiers’ bodies within the blink of an eye. The screams of agony came from thousands inside military medic camps, with many screams ending swiftly but painfully. The Crimean war took its toll on soldiers from states including the Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire, and even the United Kingdom. Many soldiers died due to disease and lack of good medical care during battles. During this time period, many women were expected to maintain their house and take care of their children, rather than become a nurse or go into higher-level education. It was looked-down-upon for women to nurse on the battlefield as most women on the battlefield were seen as prostitutes.

Born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy was Florence Nightingale. Florence has a mother, father and two siblings. When she was young, she was always into Philanthropy (https://mukundsathe.com/tag/lutheran-hospital/). By the time she was 16 she knew that nursing is what she was made for. It was her destiny. Even though she was awkward in social situations and didn't like to be in the spotlight., Florence Nightingale should always be remembered because she opened a hospital for training nurses and she is a huge inspiration to nurses.

The philosophy of nursing started off with the beginning of times, Florence Nightingale, the mother of nursing, carried out her beliefs on what she thought was important during the Crimean War in 1854. She implemented standards of practice that are still carried out today. From thereon, the goals of nursing have remained the same, to provide a caring and safe environment that promotes patient health and well-being. Nursing is focused on caring for the individual, family and the community. Also, being compassionate and trying to understand the client on an emotional, physical, and spiritual level.

Theory is a cluster of concept or ideas that propose a view concerning a phenomenon to guide nursing practice (Chitty, 2005). The four concepts basic to nursing that are incorporated in this paper are nursing, person, health, and environment (Cherry & Jacob, 2005). The goal of this paper is to describe the core concept of nursing shared amongst Dorothea Orem and Virginia Henderson’s theories. The comparison and analysis of concept definitions between these two theories will also examined. Finally Henderson’s theory of concept statement, metaparadigm and her philosophy will be explored.

Nursing theorist Virginia Henderson (1897-1996), often referred to as the “First Lady of Nursing”, developed a nursing model based on the 14 components of activities of daily living. The paper discusses the importance of applying these components to the nursing practice. She emphasized the importance of increasing the patient’s independence so that progress after hospitalization would not be delayed (Henderson 1991). Henderson’s Theory and the main concepts are discussed using a case study approach on a specific client to better explore the theory and how it influenced the nursing practice. Henderson’s principles and practices of Nursing laid a ground work for