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Florence Nightingale : A Visionary
Florence Nightingale : A Visionary
History of florence nightingale contribution to nursing profession
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Improving Patient Outcomes
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.
Many theorist throughout the nursing history have provided concrete ideas to improve patient outcomes by providing quality of care. One theorist used is the Maslow’s Hierarchy; which focuses that an individual basic needs must be met before any other need.
Virginia Henderson a theorist that
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emphasized understand of the patient through the art of nursing and once said “get inside the skin of each of her patients in order to know what he/she needs” (Masters 2013). By understanding the different approaches of many theorists in nursing, one can apply this knowledge and beliefs in their practice. Choice of Nursing As a former migrant worker that would travel every six months to California, the worry of medical insurance was not an issue. Every member of my family was covered by Medicaid. This changed as I married and had children. Both my husband and I work and affect the eligibility criteria to quality for health insurance for our children. We hated to see our family and children suffer from illness. I decided to start my career in the nursing field.
I would envision the future by providing first aid care to friends and families and would save them from highly medical bills. The journey began and I became a Registered Nurse; the first generation in my family. I have provided care to my grandparents which suffer from Diabetes. My father suffers from Hypertension and I call him daily to remind him to document his blood pressure reading and to take his daily medication. I enjoy every moment of it.
Essence of Nursing
Essence of nursing to me is to provide a safe and caring environment to individuals in need. We should never forget we are the patients advocate. We took a pledge to protect the vulnerable in our care. By respecting our patients and their families we build trusting relationship that can last forever.
One theorist named Jean Watson, her focus was to build trusting relationships so they could work together to provide the best nursing care. She wanted the patients to voice their concerns of any health issue arising or another concern. All of this while having a professional relationship and never acting
unethical.
Every person’s needs must be recognized, respected, and filled if he or she must attain wholeness. The environment must attuned to that wholeness for healing to occur. Healing must be total or holistic if health must be restored or maintained. And a nurse-patient relationship is the very foundation of nursing (Conway et al 2011; Johnson, 2011). The Theory recognizes a person’s needs above all. It sets up the conducive environment to healing. It addresses and works on the restoration and maintenance of total health rather than only specific parts or aspect of the patient’s body or personality. And these are possible only through a positive healing relationship between the patient and the nurse (Conway et al, Johnson).
Throughout this researched that I investigated I became interested in this field in a way. If I had an option in medical field I would take the option. Knowing that you are helping patients out is an amazing feeling. I would work with infants rather than adults. I would cherish every moment because you would never know if that’s the last time to work with the patient not just because of death but maybe cause they might recover from there sickness.
“I attribute my success to this-I never gave or took any excuse.” These words spoken by Florence Nightingale showed that she was hard working and determined to make a difference in the field that she felt was her calling. Florence Nightingale was a nurse who spent her night roundscaring for the wounded, establishing her image as “Lady with the Lamp.” “The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm” – Florence Nightingale. She was a heroic woman because she was a fantastic female nurse, cured the ill and was a great team leader (Florence Bio).
When one thinks of the evolution of nursing, several noteworthy women come to mind, yet one stands out, Florence Nightingale. In Notes on Nursing, Nightingale says “…put the patient in the best conditions for nature to act upon him.” (1859, p.75) She established standards that reformed the industry. 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
Throughout this philosophy paper, I have explored what nursing is based on my personal values and beliefs as it relates to the body of work in nursing. I value the importance of holistic nursing and the care of patients being individualized for them and their family. Also, effectively collaborating among health care professionals to ensure quality care for patients. Additionally, the importance of health promotion as one of the main roles of nurses is being a teacher, since promoting health prevents illness and increases the level of health in clients. These principles will serve as a guide for my personal standards of nursing practice.
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
This piece of work will be based on the pre-assessment process that patients go through on arrival to an endoscopy unit in which I was placed in during my second year studying Adult diploma Nursing. I will explore one patient’s holistic needs, identifying the priorities of care that the patient requires; I will then highlight a particular priority and give a rational behind this. During an admission I completed under the supervision of my mentor I was pre-assessing a 37 year old lady who had arrived to the unit for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. During the pre-assessment it was important that a holistic assessment is performed as every patient is an individual with unique care needs as the patient outline in this piece of work has learning disabilities it was imperative to identify any barriers with communication (Nursing standards 2006).
There are three types of nursing theories, when it comes patient well-being all three types
Before Nightingale, nurses were lower class citizens that were alcoholics or prostitutes with no to a little education. Florence Nightingale realized that nurses ought to have some education in caring for others and be of a higher class. In 1860, she opened the first nursing school in London that did not accept prostitutes and alcoholics. To signify Nightingale’s view of nursing, Lystra Gretter composed a Hippocratic Oath for nurses called the Nightingale pledge.
When a nurse is providing patient care, he/she creates a safe environment for the patient and enables the choice to establish a relationship on a human to human interaction or on a transpersonal level. The patient will be acknowledged as a person with the wholeness of their soul despite their illness or number on the bed. The ten carative factors in this theory are used as an education tool for nurses around the world and should be applied to the different care situations in practice. Nurses use the factors to promote growth in themselves and within the patient. A nurse should respect the patient’s decisions and take the time to fully be present in the moments with the patient. A lot of nurses complain about the time limitations they have and do not provide the necessary amount of time to listen and gather the patient’s perspective of the situation. Another way this theory can be applied to practice is by recognizing the caring moment between you and the patient. This will determine how the relationship will
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
Nursing is more than merely a job, an occupation, or a career; it is a vocation, a calling, a frame of mind and heart. As a nurse, one must value the general good of others over his own. He must devote of himself nobly to ensure the well-being of his patient. However, today’s well-recognized nurses are notably different from nurses of the recent past. Service is the core of the nursing profession, and the essential evolution of the vocation reflects the ever-changing needs of the diverse patient population that it serves. As a profession, nursing has evolved progressively, particularly in its modernization throughout the past two centuries with the influence of Florence Nightingale. The field of nursing continues to grow and diversify even today, as nurses receive greater medical credibility and repute, as its minority representations
Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in nursing and maintained it as an independent profession which was not secondary to the medical profession but equal. *Nightingale 1969 cited by Hoeve et al 2013
Nursing began as a role of devotion of compassion and healing of the ill. As time has evolved those key components remain prevalent in the process and additional measures were identified as vital in healthcare. Healthcare and theory will have a continued relationship as outcomes and current evidence based practice is dependent on theory. Concepts of nursing practice are used as a framework for continued research. Healthcare professionals and educators continue to emphasize the importance of theoretical work of theorist like Florence Nightingale and Dorothea Orem. Concepts and science are important factors in healthcare and without the two the profession would lack foundation and guidance. Many factors that are implemented in healthcare are theory based and essential to practice to include data collection, patient education, meeting of basic needs, and treating the environment as well as the patient and
In the practice of nursing, needs are an everyday phenomenon and are a common theme among many nursing theories accessible today. These nursing theories help implement care planning of the patient needs for the best possible outcome. Some examples of need theories include Virginia Henderson’s Nursing Needs Theory and Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (McEwen & Wills, 2011).