History of Nursing Knowledge and the Development of Nursing Theories - Essay Example

"History of Nursing Knowledge and the Development of Nursing Theories" is an excellent example of a paper on care.
Numerous nursing models exist, and more are continuously being created. The development of these models has its origin in the inception of nursing as a distinct profession by Florence Nightingale. Recognized as the pioneer of the professional nursing profession, Florence Nightingale differentiated nursing from general caregiving and medicine by laying the foundation for the development of knowledge in nursing concepts and nursing theories. Nightingale gained extensive nursing experience while tending to wounded soldiers during the Crimean War from 1854. She proceeded to set up the first professional, secular nursing school in the world at St Thomas Hospital in London in 1860, which laid the foundation of professional nursing (Andrist, Nicholas & Volf, 2006).

Inspired or tutored by Florence Nightingale, many pioneering nurses took over Florence Nightingale and continued pioneering the development of nursing theories. In particular, many important theorists emerged in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Some of the most notable are Isabel Hampton Robb, Clara Weeks-Shaw, Isabel Stewart, Lavinia Dock, Ethel Northam, Hester Frederick, Lavinia Dock, and Bertha Harmer. They played a critical role in the development of nursing knowledge by describing nursing models and writing nursing texts. Post-World War II theorists described nursing mainly in terms of interpersonal relationships. Key theorists in this group included Hildegard Peplau, Bertha Harmer, Faye Abdellah, and Virginia Henderson (Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2011).

Ida Jean Orlando proposed in 1961 that nurses will carry out their tasks more effectively by using all their senses in the nursing process. Ernestine Wiedenbach, wrote several key nursing texts between 1954 and 1966 while lecturing at the Yale University School of Nursing. Many of the books she wrote are widely used in nursing training, including Family-centered Maternity Nursing and Clinical Nursing: A Helping Art. Wiedenbach asserted that the four crucial components of nursing are philosophy, purpose, practice, and art. Myra Estrin developed the Conservation model in 1967, which emphasizes the achievement of nursing goals through the conservation of structure, energy, social, and personal integrity (Andrist, Nicholas & Volf, 2006).

Joyce Travelbee developed the Human-to-Human Relationship Model between 1966 and 1971. In several publications, Travelbee described this model by emphasizing the importance of creating healthy relationships with patients. At around the same period Lydia E. Hall contributed tremendously to the development of the nursing profession by developing the Care, Cure, and Core Theory of Nursing, which contains three interconnected circles: the care, the cure, and the core. This theory was crucial in fostering the concept of making the patient a contributing partner in the nursing process. The concept of patient independence was developed further by Dorothea Orem when she developed the self-care deficit nursing theory between 1959 and 2001. This theory is mostly used by nurses in primary care and rehabilitation settings to encourage patients to be independent in decision-making regarding their health (George, 2011).

Sister Callista Roy was another prominent theorist whose Adaptation Model emphasizes the need for nurses to be flexible, so as to tackle appropriately new situations in nursing practice. She developed the model while writing her thesis during her graduate studies, which was published in Nursing Outlook in 1970. A recently developed model is the Neuman Systems Model, created by Betty Neuman from 2001 to the present. She continues to modify the model in order to improve it. It entails the perception of the nurse regarding stress and how she reacts to it (. Many theorists continue to develop new theories and concepts in nursing and improve old ones in order to make them more applicable to the nursing profession (Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2011).