Modern day nursing in Australia owes its foundation to Ms. Osburn, who was the Lady Superintendent to one of the first nursing teams sent to implement Florence Nightingales standards of nursing in Sydney. Ms. Osburn practiced the standards of nursing current to the day, however despite changes in modern nursing practice and personal failing in some areas, Ms. Osburn would still measure up to twenty first century nursing standards. This is evident by Ms. Osburn’s ability to use health care resources effectively and efficiently to promote optimal nursing and health care in the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary. As well as her use of evidence based care and implementation of high nursing standards during her career in Australia. Ms. Osburn was also …show more content…
It was during this training that Florence Nightingale received a request from Henry Parkes, in Sydney, for a team of trained nurses able to implement Florence’s nursing standards in the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary. Florence Nightingale decided that Ms. Osburn, as a middle class woman with nursing training, would be the most appropriate choice to undertake this mission and made her Lady Superintendent (Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1974). Ms. Osburn worked for sixteen years at the Sydney Hospital, implementing many reforms to the nursing structure, hygiene, and facilities. She was eventually successful in implementing Nightingales style of nursing in Australia, before retiring in 1884 (Godden, J. and Forsyth, S., …show more content…
Osburn spent a large portion of her career in Sydney petitioning for the improvement of facilities at the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary. On arrival in Sydney Ms. Osburn was dismayed at the dilapidated buildings, the infestations of rats and lice, the unsanitary conditions, and the lack of trained staff (Torney, K (2001). The state of both the buildings and the staff were not in line with the standards set by Florence Nightingale. These standards promoted clean, well ventilated, and properly set out wards, particularly long wards with beds down either side, and trained female nurses (Godden, J. and Forsyth, S., 2001). Ms. Osburn’s attention to improvements is not only in line with Nightingale standards, but also the modern day nursing competency standard ‘7.8 Uses health care resources effectively and efficiently to promote optimal nursing and health care’ (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia [NMBA], 2006, standard 7.8). Ms. Osburn measured up to this modern standard by recognising that the current resources and facilities were unable to support adequate health care. She petitioned those who could make the changes for a better resources to be built. The obstacles Ms. Osburn faced were immense, with many of the coordinators declining to help Ms. Osburn in her push for improvements. However, by the time she retired Ms. Osburn had managed to improve the standards of the facilities and nurses to be in line with the standards applicable to the
Senior Officers were more inclined to have trained male soldiers in preference to female nurses. Major General Howse (Director of Medical Services) has been quoted as saying that “the female nurse (as a substitute for the fully trained male nursing orderly) did little toward the actual saving of life in war... although she might promote a more rapid and complete recovery”. General Howse was speaking at a time when the contribution of the Nursing Service to the treatment of the wounded soldiers, at an early stage, had yet to be recognized by the Australian authorities.
Lucy Osburn was an English nurse born at Leeds. She had been trained at The School of Nursing – founded by Florence Nightingale – that had been attached St Thomas’ Hospital and Kaiserwerth Hospital in Dusseldorf, Germany, a hospital that had greatly impacted Florence Nightingale’s ideology as a young nurse. After Henry Parkes, the Premier of New South Wales at that time, requested Florence Nightingale for trained nurses in order to reform nursing in New South Wales and introduce Florence Nightingale’s style of nursing to Australia and train nurses for hospitals around the country, Lucy was appointed as the lady superintendent with a salary of £150, and together with 5 other trained nurses set sail for Australia and arrived in Sydney on the 5th March 1868.
In particular, the use of Florence Nightingale’s theory of nursing as the basis of my new practice had allowed me to begin with the basics and work my way forward toward a more modern and holistic approach to nursing care. While Florence’s work focused mainly on the military and her care of soldiers, she began to establish schools of nursing to promote nursing education and to encourage people to view nursing as a viable profession, (Alligood, 2014. 63). Nightingale’s focus may have been care of the military, but she made great strides on getting recognition for nursing and her theories still affect the practice of nursing today. In the article, Nurses as Leaders, the author proposes that nurse leaders have made great strides since Nightingale’s time when nurses were conscripted to help care for wounded soldiers. Such a setting required these early nurse pioneers to rely on critical thinking and quick action in order to save lives. The author goes on to discuss how a change in nursing occurred in the early 20th century as new management styles emerged, most notable the “Scientific Management,” model. This style placed doctors at the top, then nurse managers, and on down to bedside care staff. Though this did allow some nurses the ability to move upward, nurses resented a doctor being in charge of their teams as the work of a physician and that of a nurse are two very different practices, ("Nurses as Leaders," 2016). This is quite different from the modern concept of a nurse executive as leader of
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
Registered nurses work to contribute good health and prevent illness. They also treat patients and help go through there rehabilitation and also give support and advice to patients family. Registered nurses are general-duty nurses who focus in the achievement of caring for their patients. They are under the supervision of a doctor. As I researched this career It brought more questions to my life. It became a big interest that soon I would have an opportunity to answer my own questions obviously with the help of others.
In her old age she received many honours, including the Order of Merit (1907), becoming the first woman to receive it. Florence Nightingale is often portrayed as a romantic figure walking the wards of Scutari. In fact she was very determined and faced opposition from her own family and male prejudice. Her farsighted reforms have influenced the nature of modern health care and her writings continue to be a resource for nurses, health managers and planners. In my opinion Florence Nightingale played a very important role in the improvement of the training of nurses in the 19th Century.
An English Nurse who laid the foundation for professional nursing, Florence Nightingale stated, “It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm.” Acute care facilities try to maintain low costs and employ quality nurses, making the nurse-to-patient ratio become more of an issue with patient care. Nearly every person’s health care experience involves the contribution of a registered nurse, and the effects of not having an appropriate nurse to patient minimum ratio affects not only the patient and nurse physically, medically, but also the hospital financially.
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.
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)
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 The ongoing education and training which supports the nursing as a profession must be maintained. The self-concept of nurses is enormously important in maintaining a professional identity. ‘Nurses’ self-concept can be defined as information and belief that nurses have about their roles, values and behaviours’ (Takase et al. 2002, p. 197; Hoeve et al.
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)
Her work on environment modification was proven to have improved the hospital mortality rate from 32 % to 2 % in six months indicating the empirical precision of the model (Winkelestein, 2009). Nightingale defined health as the ability to use one’s power well and to be well and believed health is affected by nature stating “nature alone could cure disease” (Butts & Rich, 2015, p. 381). The other element of Nightingale’s model of care was nursing, which was viewed as caring that fostered health and teaching to ensure health promotion for those who are sick and those who are well (Butts & Rich, 2015). The derivable consequence of Nightingale’s model is corroborated by the continued importance of scientific knowledge and critical thinking Florence Nightingale set out that still dictates the practice of nursing in the 21st