Florence Nightingale and her Philosophy of Nursing - Term Paper Example

?FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE AND HER PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING BIOGRAPHY  Florence nightingale was the daughter of Embly Park, a wealthy landowner and was born on 12th may,1820, in Italy. Her father was also involved in anti slavery movements. In her childhood Florence was very close to her father and he took responsibility of her education and taught her every thing from history, Greek, Latin to philosophy and mathematics. She was considered as the first nursing theorist and she laid the basis of modern nursing. At seventeen, she said she felt an unnamed responsibility being present upon her shoulder by God. after enduring great resistance against her wish to be a nurse , at the age 25 after refusing many marriage proposals Florence finally told her parents that she wanted to be a nurse. As nursing was assumed as a working class profession at that time Florence had to face a very rough patch of her life, trying to explain to her family and society , the significance of it. But her courage never wavered especially when she met Elizabeth Blackwell, who was the first women Doctor in U.S finally in 1851; her father gave her permission to train as a nurse.(Matheson,1913) She later went to Germany to pursue her aim to be a nurse. Florence Nightingale worked in a military hospital in 1853 as most of the soldiers were dying due to Cholera and Malaria. She found the form of the hospital was dreadful. The reason she observed was absence of sanitation, lack of food and warmth for the wounded soldiers. After enduring with these circumstances she formed a theory which was successful and is practiced and followed by many. The main focus of her theory was on the environment and the patient’s reaction to it. Her belief was, if alternation in the surroundings are made nature helps patient to heal. The foundation of her theory depended upon environment, patient, health and nursing. NURSING THEORIES: A general view Theories are composed of concepts, definitions, models, propositions and sometimes even assumptions derived from nursing models, to acquire the knowledge regarding patient’s health and betterment. Nursing theories aims to identify and predict the phenomena of nursing. The theories of nursing assist the nurses to describe, explain and predict everyday experiences as well guide to review interventions and evaluation of the nursing care system. FLORENCE AND HER THEORY OF NURSING Florence Nightingale’s theories were basically regarding the ideal nursing requirements and one of the essential requirement was of course the “home sister” and after that practice of the skills required by the profession, for this purpose she wrote two articles, “Nursing the sick” and “Nursing, training of”, her aim was to combine the training from the wards and supervise learners abilities and moral development. The home sister’s duty in fact is to train the nurses, however Florence herself, was the nurse trained without the Home sister. “Observation tells how the patient is; reflection tells what is to be done; training tells how it is to be done. Training and experience are, of course, necessary to teach us, too, how to observe, what to observe; how to think, what to think” (Nightingale, 1882). She explained her environmental theory in her book “What it is and what it is not” According to Florence process of learning should carry on from the initial formal training and it should never be discontinued because nursing requires a solid educational base. It is however, quite surprising that Florence fought against the idea of requirement of license for the nursing professionals as it would undeniably affect their training and will be a cause of self-importance for the nurses where as actually this profession wants a feature of kind heartedness and down towards earth temperament. Profession of nursing should be considered as a higher calling other then just a profession, was Florence’s view, and that can just be secured when a nurse recognizes her responsibilities for the well being of the patient because nursing is distinct from medicine. MAJOR CONCEPTS OF FLORENCE’S THEORY Major concepts of Nightingale’s theory surrounded the areas of ventilation and warming in the hospitals as well as cleanliness of rooms and walls for the health and hygiene of the patients. Light, noise, bed and bedding also affect the nature of the disease and can interfere with patient’s treatment. Providing patient with advices and encouraging him can produce a positive energy in the patient was also a concept given by her. Observation and management are also necessary for the betterment of the patient. Florence’s work contain philosophical assumptions and beliefs containing all the elements found in paradigm of nursing and that can be transformed into a conceptual model that can be utilized during the practice and that leaves a great area of research still open.(Selanders,1998) FLORENCE’S THEORY IN A CLINICAL SETTING There are five basic factors of a healthy environment such as fresh air, cleanliness, proper drainage, direct sunlight or natural light and pure water and such healthy environment can produce a positive effect on patient’s health and his recovery. as nursing is separate from medicine , thus it is not responsible for the treatment procedures of the patient but it surrounds the area of the patients comfort so that a patient can be treated in a best possible environment so the application of such approaches in combination with proper diet, as specified by the physician can be implemented and measure such as these can maintain adequate ventilation and sanitation, to promote appropriate nutrition and maintaining proper homeostatic body temperature.(Selanders,1993) SIGNIFICANCE OF FLORENCE’S THEORY IN NURSING PROFESSION The theories of nursing assist the nurses to describe explain and predict everyday experiences as well guide to review interventions and evaluation of the nursing care system. The theory provide an underlying ground for collecting the reliable data about patients health status, which are significant for decision making and adopting the most effective intervention for treatment and care. Training of nursing on the basis of these concepts, help nurses to communicate with their seniors and find solutions of the complications juniors or new comer nurses are facing in their profession or in the clinical practice. Clear communication and affective transfer of knowledge are basic components of quality health care and in a clinical setting health care provider should be able to provide knowledge about diagnosis and treatment to a patient as well.(Nightingale,2009).The theory also enhances the self governance and autonomy of the nursing profession by defining its own self regulating tasks and responsibilities as described by Florence Nightingale it is not just a profession it is a higher vocation other then doctors and any other health care professional and like wise its requirements are also different. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE’S THEORY AND ITS BENEFITS Florence’s theory is expected to benefit the practice because it is approved by the people who practice nursing and is developed by co-operation of Florence and all the other trainees who worked with her at that time in the same profession and perceived the reality of the profession. Her theory does not provide a procedural guideline as the rules or principles do, but her theory ought to improve the nursing practice by analyzing nursing data. Her theory surrounds the grounds of nursing practice as she was the first to lay down the concept of modern nursing and she emphasized on the basic requirements of a healthy environment which is not just required in nursing but also during our day to day life depends on those factors and if managed properly one wont need to be in the hands of the nurses in the first place and so her concepts are basic and important and almost every health care facility need to manage these aspects o otherwise ignorance of such health factors can jeopardize an institution’s reputation well as patients health. BIBLIOGRAPHY Top of Form MATHESON, A., & Nightingale, F. (1913). Florence Nightingale. A biography. [With illustrations.]. Thomas Nelson & Sons: London, [1913.. Bottom of Form Top of Form Selanders, L. C. (January 01, 1998). The power of environmental adaptation. Florence Nightingale's original theory for nursing practice. Journal of Holistic Nursing : Official Journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association, 16, 2, 247-63. Top of Form Selanders, L. C. (1993). Florence Nightingale: An environmental adaptation theory. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. Top of Form Nightingale, F., International Council of Nurses., & Florence Nightingale International Foundation. (2009).Notes on nursing: A guide for today's caregivers. Edinburgh: Elsevier/Baillie?re Tindall. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More