The History of Nursing - Essay Example

1. Identify some outcomes or results for the betterment of nursing that Florence Nightingale accomplished in her lifetime (list atleast 6 or 7 outcomes). Florence Nightingale is a name that is written in the annals of history forever. She is widely been known as the person who led the way for the nursing profession. Her contrituion to the profession has been widely acknowledged and most of her works have been preserved as assets that are being used to this day. She has been attributed to creating Nursing as we know it today in its correct form and defined the exact meaning of the word nursing. According to her, nursing involves fundamentally three aspects – Conservation of Patient Energy, Nutrition, and Environmental Manipulation. These aspects were included in nursing in the beginning and nursing in itself is connected to the above aspects. Under the principles laid down by Florence Nightingale, she heavily relies on reforms as the means of bringing about a change in nursing. Nursing as a profession should be actively involved in this change process and progress in general. These reforms can be classified under - educational reforms, and public health reform and political action, sanitary reform, scientific methodology and architectural and administrative reform. These aspects are mostly concerned with health and wellness. 2. How does Nightingale view the role of the nurse? Nurses are fundamentally those professionals who have an idea to preserve the health of an individual. Nurses are trained in ways in order to be able to serve human beings by providing comfort to those who are mentally or physically weak. Florence created programs and training activities that provided nurses with these aspects and fulfilled these criteria. These efforts also made the nursing profession a respectable one. 3. Explain the purpose, role and founder of the American Red Cross. Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton was considered a pioneer humanitarian, nurse and teacher. Her indomitable spirit has been widely recongnized and her greatest contribution to manking was the formation of the American Red Cross. Clara, as she wished to be called, started her teaching profession when most of them were men and also was among one of the first women to join the federal government. At age 60, she began the American Red Cross and her understanding of the requirements of people in trouble and the manners in which she could assist were the guiding principles of her life. She personally became an example of providing volunteer service and her devotion filled up a lifetime of achievements. 4. Who was Linda Richards and what did she contribute to the profession of nursing (list at least two items)? Linda Richards was the first nurse in America to be trained professionally. She is widely responsible fore the creation of nurse training programs across the United States and Japana. She also began the medical record system for patients that is being used in hospitals and clinics across the glode today. Richards set up a nurse training school at Boston City Hospital and was its first matron and supertindent 5. What is the significance of the Flexner Report related to nursing history? List the key elements to determine if nursing is a true profession. The Flexner Report is widely credited as the report that changed the history of American medical education. The book-length study funded by Rockefeller and Carnegie was given to the able hands of Abraham Flexner the modern American medical profession can be said to be the result of the Flexner report. American medical schools were asked to bring in reforms and improve their standards of admission and graduation. Due to the report many schools were found to be sub-standard and were asked to either shut down or improve their standards. In addition, the report also restricted the number of doctors and medical professionals who passed out due to the surplus that was being faced. It also opened out education for females in the male only colleges and universities. 6. Describe the role of the American nurse during World War I. More than 25,000 US women serve during the World War I and majorly japed in nursing the wounded, providing food and supplies to the military and as telephone operators. The nurses acted on their own accord, by joining on their own, creating organizations as they felt necessary. They displayed exemplary acts of bravery by moving to the front in the war than just by staying in the back and of course, pride in their own work. 7. Describe the role of the American nurse during World War II. There were close to 59,000 American nurses who served as nurses in World War II. This time, however, nurses were closer to the front lines than earlier. They served under bombings, fire, shelling and so on in wide places such as hospital trains and ships, field hospitals, evacuation hospitals and even on medical transport planes. Their skills and dedication led to the fact that the mortality rate of injured soldiers was considerably reduced. This figure was around 4% of the overall total. 8. Post World War II, what role/s did the nurse most likely want to fill once home from military service? Post the World War II, the military services recognized the contribution of female nurses during the war and at first, gave them full retirement privileges and nurses officers’ commissions. They were also granted equal pay and dependent allowances. In addition, they were provided free education. World War II changed American society irrevocably and redefined the status and opportunities of the professional nurse. 9. What is the significance of the Brown Report? The Brown report, which ushered in modern nursing, widely recommended that nursing be taken up as a form of education in colleges and universities, but is not looked as a profession by doctors, administrators and physicians. Though Esther Lucile Brown insisted that public health nursing and all related sciences be incorporated into baccalaureate nursing programs, the actual implementation took more than 17 years to be put into practice. The development of the graduate programs was a result of this implementation. 10. When was the first nursing research journal published and what did this mean for the profession of nursing? The scholarly journal, Nursing Research, which was the first journal in the nursing profession was published in the 1950s. the journal was primarily concerned with with systematic study and assessment of nursing problems that existed in the profession. It’s objective was to improve nursing practice and patient care. These days, the mission of Nursing Research is to report pragmatic findings of a very high quality that includes fundamental and clinical research that is centered to understand health and illness experiences. 11. What organization is the professional nursing organization that represents all nurses in the U.S.?  What is the purpose of this organization?  What does it do for its members (list 5-6) The American Nurses Association or ANA is the professional nurses organization in the US. It is the only full-service organization that has more than 2.9 million registered members. It operates directly and through its member nurses associations, affiliations and other related organizations. The ANA has put in place a high standard of nursing practice that projects a positive and reality based view of the nursing profession. In addition, it also lobbies with the government, the congress and other regulatory agencies on issues of prominence and other healthcare issues that affect the lives of nurses and the general public. 12. After World War II, nursing education and nursing practice were greatly changed or changing. Identify 6-7 ways nursing was changing. Post World War II, there was the establishment of the The Balton Act, which led to the formation of the Cadet Nurse Corps. This influenced the subsidization of nursing education by the federal government for colleges and the students. Post that, there was the formation of Associate degree programs in nursing, which were put into place to furbish the shortage of nurses noticed post World War II. Though these programs did not fulfill the intended purpose of utilization in hospitals it did fulfill the shortage that was present in the nursing profession. This led to the creation of various company statements and the women nurses being used in hospitals who were part of the military services earlier. This also led to the creation of more number of hospitals. 13. The American Nurses Association wrote a Position Paper on Education for nurses and made recommendations for nursing education. Discuss how graduates and students from diploma, associate degree and baccalaureate schools of nursing responded to this report.  (List 6-7 responses.)  The American Nurses Association created a committee in the year 1964 to study the existing situation in nursing education, the practice of nursing and scope of its responsibilities. This was a fallout of the passage of the comprehensive nurse training act. The study described the increasing intricacy in healthcare and the constantly changing practices of the profession. It also raised a few concerns of diploma education programs that are hospital based. This report was adapted as ANA’s position paper and it proposed that baccalaureate degree program should be the fundamental of the nursing education program. It also noted that the program catered to the requirements of the profession only currently and not for the near or the long-term future. The report also described in detail the various levels that were required for nursing education, namely the associate degree education, the baccalaureate education for beginning nursing practice, and vocational education for assistants. The paper successfully affirmed the fact that there were two levels of designation required in nursing practice. 14. How has the movement toward utilizing advance practice nurses (nurse practitioners) affected nursing practice and nursing education?  (List 5-6 ways.) There has been a steady evolution in advanced nursing practice due to the dynamic nature of the healthcare industry. This has been influenced by financial constraints, delivery of healthcare and the changing demands of consumers. However, there has been a wide requirement for the putting in place of policies, standards and educational requirements for the advanced nursing practitioner. The educational content needs to be ever more flexible and rich in order to prepare practitioners. There are a few core concepts that prepare the foundation of the advanced nursing practice. There are pioneering professional and clinical leadership, autonomy in clinical practice, expert practitioner and researcher. In this day and age, when healthcare delivery is constantly changing and is becoming more and more people dependent, the advanced nurse practitioner is in a position to make the right contribution to society and healthcare. 15. List 7-8 ways nursing is the same as the time of Florence Nightingale and how it is different. Florence Nightingale has an eternal link with modern nursing – and something that she rightly deserves. However, there are a few areas on which Florence has a lasting impact on modern medicine. These include hospital infection control, hospital epidemiology, death with dignity, the feminization movement, influence in the embryonic nursing profession, sanitary knowledge and the establishment of the Nightingale school. 16. Describe the International Council of Nurses organization. The International Council of Nurses is a federation of nursing associations that represent nurses of around 128 countries. The organization was established in 1899 and is by far the world’s largest and farthest reaching organization set up for healthcare professionals. The organization is operated by nurse and is for nurses, and it works for the creation of quality nursing, global health policies, advancing nursing knowledge. The organization has essentially three goals – to unite nursing across the world, influencing policy in healthcare and to advance nursing across the globe. 17. What is the significance of the Goldmark Report to the nursing profession? In the year 1920, the Rockefeller Foundation supported a committee that was studying nursing education. The committee included Annie W. Goodrich, M. Adelaide Nutting, and Lillian Wald, and they were commissioned to study the current state of nursing education in the United States. The report that was published in the year 1923 and came to be known as the Goldmark report. The report resulted in the publicizing of the fact that there was an inadequacy in the current state of nursing programs and later led to the establishment of the Yale School of Nursing. This was an experiment by the Rockefeller foundation and it was the first autonomous school that had its own budget, faculty and degree that met the standards of university level education. 18. How is health care delivery similar to nursing care delivered at the turn of the century (1900’s)? During the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, healthcare was the responsibility of the individual or the family and nursing was the primary concern of the same family. These were private nurses and there were very few in the public hospitals or clinics. Public attitudes and expectations from medicine were limited as medicine had little curative power. There was not a proper organization in healthcare delivery which was the same case with nursing. There was little or non-existent knowledge of public health, sanitary services. Read More