Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Florence Nightingale Environmental Theory of Nursing Explained
Florence Nightingale Environmental Theory of Nursing Explained
Application of florence nightingale environmental theory to nursing
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Nursing Theory One of the most crucial nursing theorists of all time, Florence Nightingale established effective nursing strategies in the mid 1800’s that are still applied to this day. She founded an environmental theory expressing that nurses should utilize a patients’ surroundings to assist them in their recovery, and furthermore that nurses should also tend to more than just a patient’s physical demands. These tactics were originally performed during the Crimean War by Nightingale and have been vital guidelines within hospitals ever since. Discussed in depth are Florence Nightingale’s background information, components of her theory, and the theory’s application to professional nursing demonstrating …show more content…
These modifications include having a well-lit, warm, quiet, and especially sanitary atmosphere with a sufficient amount of nutritious food, ventilation, and comfortable bedding (Davies, 2012). After witnessing such peril situations where patients were receiving healthcare and their conditions were still rapidly deteriorating, Nightingale fervently promoted hygiene techniques such as hand washing and bed changing. With these adjustments mortality rates of wounded battlefield soldiers during the Crimean War significantly declined proving that sterility is a crucial component to healthcare (Hegge, 2013). According to Nightingale people are multidimensional and are composed of psychological, biological, spiritual, and social components which all must be individually supported. Along with this ideal she encouraged both an effective recovery as well as a tranquil decease due to her belief that everybody finds purpose in life, death, and suffering (Selanders & Crane, 2012). Florence Nightingale’s nursing theory essentially consists of manipulating a patient’s environment based off of their necessities but doing so in the most nurturing aseptic manner
notices to patients and their families, schedule and lead the meetings. Wishing to be actively involved in the process, I represented nursing along with the charge nurse of the unit and the charge aide.
One of the many theorists that followed the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, was Merle Mishel (Alligood, 2014). However, Florence Nightingale’s theory is different
Nightingale, F. (1898). Notes on nursing: what it is and what it is not. New York, NY:
I have soon come to realize how much more there is to nursing than just helping and healing. Nursing is not taking care of individuals it is caring for them. Caring is not only important when concerning nurse and patient relationships. It is important in every aspect of humanity. The culture of caring involves intervening programs that help to build caring behaviors among nurses. As nurses become stressed and become down on their life it has shown that caring for oneself before others is key in caring for patients. Also, throughout the years many theorists have proven that caring has come from many concepts and ideas that relate directly to ICU nursing. The knowledge I have gained from reading and reviewing these articles has and will help me to become a better nurse. It will help and provide the pathway for caring in my professional
For example her practices of sanitation and aseptic methods led to a decrease in hospital mortality rates. By keeping records of care given, techniques used and the outcomes; by utilizing these records, she implemented documentation and evidence-based practice. She started the ball rolling on the transition of nursing from a belittled trade to the profession it is now proclaimed to be. Nightingale, in conjunction with other theorists, made great strides in the field of nursing. Changes in training, health care settings, and patient care accompanied by expanding responsibilities has evolved the field into what it is today; a flourishing profession that grows more advanced with every passing day.
Florence Nightingale was the Nurse of Nurses. In nursing school she is the first person you will hear speak of. She is known as “The lady with the lamp”. Her theory focused on the adjustment of the environment provided to protect the patient. She thought that a sleeping patient should never be awaken. Noise should always be avoided because it can startle the sleeping patient. This was a serious problem to her. She delegated tasks to other nurses, always keeping the patients safe and away from harm.
Aside from Florence Nightingale, there are other icons in the history of nursing. For example, some important individuals are Virginia Henderson, Dorothy Johnson, Martha Rogers, Abraham Maslow, and Sister Callista Roy. These icons believed that the goal of nursing is to help clients, reduce stress, to help identify their needs, prevent illness, and promote health (O’Neill, pg. 4, 2014). All of these principles play a major role in the nursing profession. Some other their frameworks or principles are involved with the fourteen fundamentals needs, 7 behavioral subsystem in an adaptation model, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, evidence-based practice, primary caring, advance practice nursing, cultural competence, holistic approach, primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention (O’Neill, pg. 4, 2014). These changes has improved and reformed many aspect of
Nursing is a growing and constantly changing profession, making a bigger impact in healthcare with every turn. In fact, it was not so long ago that nursing was not even thought of as a profession and we have come a long way since the pioneer days of Florence Nightingale. Nursing is steadily evolving in terms of opportunities, educational requirements, professional recognition, and the advancement of nursing theories. These theories influence the environment, the patient, health, and overall nursing. Nursing theories will continue to evolve and guide as we continue to explore and learn new ways to improve overall nursing practice not only for the sake of the patients, but also for the future of nursing as a whole. However, when one looks to the future of nursing, they must also remember where it started; the basics of Florence Nightingale and that “Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better” (Nightingale, 1859).
To this day, the most admired person in nursing history would be Florence Nightingale. She will forever be an influential figure in the world of nursing due to her perseverance and critical thinking skills that saved so many lives during the Crimean War. There is no way to tell how long it could have taken nursing to evolve without the help of Nightingale. In her book, Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, Nightingale described a multitude of factors that must be considered when helping the ill to recover and to have the healthy maintain their well-being (Nightingale, 1860/1969). Four chapters in her book are of high importance, chapter two, on Health of Homes, chapter
Florence Nightingale, named after the city of Florence, was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12, 1820. She would pursue a career in nursing and later find herself studying data of the soldiers she so cringingly looking after. Born into the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale took the lead role amongst her and her colleges to improve the inhabitable hospitals all across Great Britten; reduce the death count by more than two-thirds. Her love for helping people didn’t go unnoticed and would continue to increase throughout her life. In 1860 she opened up the St. Tomas’ Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses before passing August 13, 1910 in London. Her willingness to care for her patients was never overlooked and wound establishing
In the todays century, the responsibilities, roles, and opportunities for nursing and nurse education has grown abundantly to that of modern day nurses. Many nurses in the eighteen century were not educated nurses and never attended nursing school; however, they still provided care for the sick, poor, and needy and played a vital role in health maintenance. With the hard work from many notable nurses in history such as Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, and Isabel Robb and the persistence and dedication for change from influential nurses such as Mary Mahoney and Mabel Staupers; nursing today has transformed in many aspects of practice. Although nursing as a profession is continuously evolving throughout the years, the core foundation of nursing hasn’t changed in that nursing is a profession of caring for others and servicing those in need.
“Nursing is an art, and if it is to be made an art, requires as exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painter’s or sculptor’s work...” (Nightingale, 1868)
Before the modernization and reform of their profession in the mid-1800s, nurses were believed to perform “women’s work”, which implied menial duties, unskilled service, and an overall lack of skill (Garey, "Sentimental women need not apply"). This mentality was substantiated by the “untrained attendants, [including] past patients, vagrants, and prostitutes,” that performed a variety of nursing tasks (Garey). Florence Nightingale’s nursing experiences during the Crimean War, her subsequent publication of Notes on Nursing, and her work to build up professionalism within the field transformed the way that the world and society viewed nursing. She introduced invigorating ideas of patient care, nursing roles and responsibilities, and was a strong proponent of nursing education. Nightingale’s overall work inspired and changed the profession of nursing, laying the foundation for its
Sometimes in war a person can learn new things that can befit the world. Nightingale saw that most soldiers were dying from illness and not from there injures that they had received. ("Florence nightingale," 2011) She observed the environment that the patients were in, and notice that most of them did not have adequate nutrition, and their environment was not clean. ("Florence nightingale," 2011) The changes she made in the ward included a better nutrition and a sanitary environment these changes greatly decreased the mortality rate which was at a 42% then drop to 2% ("Florence nightingale," 2011) Nightingale believed that a patient environment affected the healing process for the patient. Nightingale states, “Nursing out to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and then proper selection and administration of diet.” (Alligod & Tomey, 2006) Nightingale created 13 canons, which revolves around nurse to critical think and how the nurse can change the environment. An example of one of her Canons is noise, states “asses the noise level in the client room and surrounding area. Attempt to keep noise level to a minimum.”(Alligod & Tomey, 2006)
Florence Nightingale is a respected reformer of modern times. The book Notes on Nursing contains the thoughts about Nightingale by nursing-theorists and some of today’s nurse leaders. Florence Nightingale was committed to improving the misery and unhealthy living conditions of people all over the world (Schuyler, 1992, p.3). In this paper I will be using Nightingale’s Thirteen Canons to discuss what nursing is and what it is not.