Florence Nightingale's Contribution to Nursing - Essay Example

Florence Nightingale Total Number of Words 754 Introduction Regardless of the patients’ agedifferences and family background, nursing is about the promotion of health, prevention of diseases, and the delivery of autonomous and collaborative care to a group of people, individuals, and the community members who are ill, disabled, and dying (ICN, 2008). As part of the study, the main purpose of writing “Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not” by Florence Nightingale (1860/1969) will be thoroughly discussed followed by describing the four most important concepts and/or issues related to nursing. In the process of discussing the importance of the selected nursing concepts, reasons for choosing each of the four concepts will be provided. Upon making a list of nursing assumptions, the student nurse will describe her own personal beliefs with regards to nursing profession. Eventually, the key sources of information used in formulating the student nurse’s personal beliefs about nursing including the extent wherein the student nurse’s personal beliefs on nursing are relevant with the modern nursing will be tackled. For the conclusion, the question pertaining to what nursing is and what it is not will be answered based on the personal judgment and perception of the student nurse. Main Purpose of Writing “Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not” by Florence Nightingale (1860/1969) The main purpose of writing Nightingale’s (1860/1969) “Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not” is to enable the professional nurses to have an idea of what nursing profession is all about especially when it comes to understanding how the professional nurses should render care and understand the well-being of not only the sick individuals but also their respective family members. As part of understanding the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of each individual, the book enables each nurse to have a better idea on how to treat and provide the different levels of care to sick individuals including their loved ones. Since Florence Nightingale herself is a devoted nurse, she intentionally wrote the book based on her personal experiences with regards to her personal management of nursing duties. For this reason, some of her personal teachings have become widely accepted in the modern nursing profession. Four Most Important Concepts and/or Issues Related to Nursing Importance of Keeping the Environment Safe for the Patient Given that environmental factors significantly affect the physical health and emotional well-being of the patients, it has been noted by Nightingale that it is important for nurses to ensure that there is a clean and fresh air at an acceptable room temperature that flows around the patients’ surroundings aside from keeping the surroundings free from health destructing noises as well as ensuring that the room is well lighted and clean (Nightingale, 1860). Considering that a sick patient’s body resistance is temporarily weak, the patient can easily get cold in case the room temperature is excessively cold or catch air-borne infection in case the room environment is not clean. For this reason, nurses are responsible not only in cleaning the room environment such as the floor, tables, and chairs among others free from dust particles and other microorganisms aside from regularly changing the patients’ bed linens and blankets but also the patient’s physical hygiene which includes bathing, washing hands before and after eating, and brushing teeth among others. In case the room temperature is relatively cold, it is advisable to use room heating devices. To enable sick patient to receive clean air and maintain a well ventilated room, it is best to open windows at night provided that the environmental temperature is within the accepted range. Environmental surroundings should also be well lighted to prevent aged patients from unnecessary health complications due to accidents related to falling. A well-lighted house is also believed to stop the growth of illnesses. (Nightingale, 1860) As part of making the recovery period of each patient shorter, it is equally important to keep the room environment free from health destructing noises. Not only can external noise disturb the sleeping pattern of each patient but also causes emotional irritation which is not advisable in the case of a sick person. Importance of Nursing Management According to Nightingale (1860), nurses should keep a good nursing management a habit to ensure that each patient receives properly care, nutrition, and medicine intake necessary to promote a better physical and emotional health. For instance: The physician instructed the nurse to give the patient’s medicine after every 4 hours. Keeping a medical chart or record for each patient will enable the nurse to administer the correct prescribed drugs at a right time. Likewise, keeping a record on room cleaning schedule and maintenance is also necessary to ensure that the patient’s room is properly disinfected each time a patient has been discharged from the hospital. Proper Food and Nutrition Nightingale also discussed the importance of cleanliness in the preparation of food for each patient. (Nightingale, 1860) Aside from keeping the food free from microorganisms, it is also important for nutritionists and/or nurses to be familiar with the proper nutrition needed by each patient. For example: Nurses and nutritionists should avoid giving a glass of milk given that the patient has lactose-intolerance or avoid giving patients with high cholesterol food especially in the case wherein the patient is suffering from high-blood pressure. Emotionally Uplifting Activities Aside from keeping the environmental surrounding and food free from microorganism causing diseases, Nightingale (1860) mentioned the importance of promoting activities that can uplift the emotional burden being faced by each patient. Among these extra activities includes giving the patients a bouquet of colorful flowers or other things that can make the patients happy. In line with this matter, several studies reveal that establishing and maintaining a good patient-nurse relationship can hasten the recovery period of the patient (Williams & Irurita, 1998; Leino-Kilpi, 1991). This is primarily due to the fact that knowing the patient well enables the nurse to provide the specific health care needs and emotional assistance needed by each patient. (Henderson, 1997) List of Nursing Assumptions and the Description of Student Nurse’s Personal Beliefs with Regards to Nursing Profession The student nurse assumes that nursing profession is not limited in the provision of health care services such as the administering of prescribed drugs, assisting the patient with the activities of daily living (ADL), and ensuring the cleanliness and safety of the patient’s environmental surroundings but also requires the need to fully understand the emotional and spiritual needs of each patient. Based on these assumptions, the student nurse believes that nurses should develop a strong communication skill necessary in enabling nurses to develop a close professional relationship with the patients. By keeping an open communication between the nurses and the patients, it will be easier on the part of the nurses to deliver a better and more effective health care service to each patient. Aside from the importance of maintaining a good communication line with each patient, nurses are also responsible in respecting the privacy and giving each patient the right to choose their preferred treatment and care. Before rendering care to the patient, nurses are required to seek permission from the client before touching them. This type of nursing practice is based on the nursing code of ethics which is to respect the confidentiality and patients’ choice as recommended by the Canadian Nurse Association (CNA). (Illinois Institute of Technology, 2008) With regular communication with each patient, nurses are able to win the trust of their patient. Depending on each clinical situation, some patient may be needing someone to talk with especially in the case wherein the patient has no other family members or relatives that takes time to visit them. Given that the patient requested some time to share their emotional burden, nurses should give a little time to listen to the patients who wanted to speak up their thoughts and other personal concerns that bothers them emotionally. By listening to them, nurses are indirectly releasing emotional stress that can be harmful to their overall health and wellness. As part of rendering a good quality care for each patient, nurses should ensure that each patient receives a holistic care. Holistic nursing practice means that nurses should not stay focus only in the delivery of proper care and treatment to each patient but also their responsibilities when it comes to health promotion, health education, illness prevention, health maintenance, and the restorative-rehabilitative care needed by each individual. (Kozier et al., 2004, p. 1453) Key Sources of Information Used in Formulating the Student Nurse’s Personal Beliefs The key sources of information used in formulating the student nurse’s personal beliefs includes the combination of: (1) nursing journals; (2) “Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not” by Florence Nightingale (1860/1969); (3) the nursing code of ethics as stated by the Canadian Nurse Association (CNA) (Illinois Institute of Technology, 2008); and (4) Fundamentals of Nursing by Kozier et al. (2004). Extent wherein Student Nurse’s Personal Beliefs on Nursing are Relevant with the Modern Nursing Practice The concept of nursing originated from a series of past Crimean war which has occurred between the years 1854 – 1856. (Kozier et al., 2004, p. 3) Headed by Florence Nightingale, nursing practice during the war was focused on improving the health conditions of the wounded soldiers. Over the years, nursing became a universally recognized profession in different countries worldwide. The modern nursing is more focused on treating patients within the clinical and hospital settings (Kozier et al., 2004). Among the main role and responsibilities of the modern nurses includes: cleaning and dressing of wounds, the provision of nursing education within the community, home care, health promotion, assessing the health of the patients by monitoring their vital signs, body temperature, pulse rate, breathing patterns, and blood pressure among others. Considering the history of nursing, the student nurse’s personal beliefs on nursing is highly related with the modern nursing practice in the sense that nursing practice is believed to be a very complex profession which includes not only the patient’s treatment of sick patients and the caring for the end-of-life patients but also the health care prevention by actively participating in the local community health education and teaching programs. Conclusion Florence Nightingale has a significant contribution with the development of modern nursing. During the time of Nightingale, she has indicated in her writing not only the importance of keeping the patients’ surrounding safe and clean in order to hasten the recovery period of each patient aside from discussing the importance of food preparation and nursing management. *** End *** References: Henderson, S. (1997). Knowing the patient and the impact on patient participation: a grounded theory study. International Journal of Nursing Practice , 3(2):111 - 118. ICN. (2008). Retrieved October 17, 2008, from The ICN Definition of Nursing: http://www.icn.ch/definition.htm Illinois Institute of Technology. (2008). Retrieved October 17, 2008, from Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT: Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses : http://ethics.iit.edu/codes/coe/can.nurses.assoc.coe.html Kozier, B., Erb, G., Berman, A., & Snyder, S. (2004). Fundamentals of Nursing: Concepts, Process, and Practice. Pearson Prentice Hall. Leino-Kilpi, H. (1991). Good nursing care--the relationship between client and nurse. Hoitotiede , 3(5):200 - 207. Nightingale, F. (1860). Retrieved October 17, 2008, from NOTES ON NURSING: What it is, and what it is not: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/nightingale/nursing/nursing.html#I Williams, A., & Irurita, V. (1998). Therapeutically conducive relationships between nurses and patients: an important component of quality nursing care. The Australian Journal of Advance Nursing , 16(2):36 - 44. Read More