The foundation of nursing practice is grounded with the use of nursing theories. It provides a framework for generating knowledge for furthering the nursing profession. Florence Nightingale, was instrumental in contributing to the modern profession of nursing. Her philosophical assumptions served as core of her environmental theory.
These assumptions are natural laws; mankind can achieve perfection; nursing is a calling; nursing is an art and a science; nursing is achieved through environmental alteration; nursing requires a specific educational base; and nursing is distinct and separate from medicine. (Karim, 2015, p. 225)
The essence of the theory is a “healthy environment promotes patient recovery” (Asif Jetha, 2014, p. 32). Nightingale largely focused on the patient and modifying the patient-care environment. Figure1identifes her canons of her Environmental theory. Accordingly, if nurses
alter the environment based on these concepts, they can
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The influence of Florence Nightingale’s vision is thriving in the 21st century. Her legacy inspired the foundation of nursing, from direct patient care environment, administration, nursing education, and leadership to global initiative. Based on Nightingale’s theory, the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (Peck, Dossey, and Rushton, 2013) a major grassroots-to-global movement was created. Additionally, there is robust research how this. The nursing profession is profoundly impacted currently in areas of infection control (Mitchell & Gardner, 2013), patient confidentiality (Idrees, 2014), evidence-based practice (Selanders & Crane, 2012), documentation (Arnone & Fitzsimons, 2014), leadership (Altimier, 2012), nursing education (Beck, 2010), and promoting alterations in the environment to improve patient outcomes (Asif Jetha, 2015; Bender & Feldman, 2015; Zborowsky,
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.
Since its establishment as a profession more than a century ago, Nursing has been a source for numerous debates related to its course, methods and development of nursing knowledge. Many nursing definitions and theories have evolved over time. Furthermore it is in a constant process of being redefined.
First, Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was born into a wealthy family in Florence, Italy. Her father valued education so he taught her. Her family didn’t want her to be a nurse because back then nurses were looked down upon and were lower class. She left for Germany and got formal training on being a nurse. She became a superintendent of a hospital and then went to help in the Crimean War. She noticed the conditions of the hospitals during the war and she started to improve hygiene, nutrition, and level of care. She opened a nurse training school and reformed the army hospitals. She wrote a book about being a nurse. She believed nurses should require training and be educated. Florence Nightingale’s legacy of caring focuses on nursing and the
This paper is a first attempt at forming and articulating my own philosophy of nursing.
When Nightingale was 16 years of age, she cared for the sick villagers near her family’s home. At this point in her life she knew nursing was what she wanted to pursue. In 1854 she was asked to put together a team of nurses who could care for sick and injured soldiers. She gathered thirty-eight other nurses together to staff a hospital overseas for the British army during the Crimean War. Nightingale trained herself for this great profession we call nursing, as she approached the hospital she knew what steps she needed to take to get her patients well. The first step was cleaning up the environment, the hospital was not what she expected at all! Towels contained dry blood and sewage discharge. She was not very big on the concept of bacterial infection; she did not accept the crowding and unsanitary environment. Although Florence was a very successful woman and due to her desire to help others nursing has
Worldwide, nurses have developed themselves into professionals with a great deal of knowledge. Despite these developments towards professionalism, nurses are still portrayed in a misleading and inaccurate way and are not given the recognition for the skills they have acquired. The essence of nursing is not always clear and nurses still suffer from stereotypes (Hoeve,2014). A stereotype can be defined as “a cognitive representation or impression of a social group that people form by associating particular characteristics and emotions with a group” (Smith and Mackie, 2007). Of the many types of nursing, a very popular stereotype that is depicted of nurses is being doctor’s handmaiden and only performing repetitive and simple tasks (Hoeve,2014.) This public image of nursing does not match their professional images, in fact, it is quite the opposite. Nurses are strong independent individuals that play just as big a role in the hospital as due the doctors or surgeons. The problem is nurses are not depicted as professionals and the public is not aware that nursing today is very theory-based oriented and a scholarly profession. Over the last few decades, nursing gone through extensive and important
Nursing theory is, “the principle that underpin practice and help to generate further nursing knowledge” (Colley, 2003, p. 33). Nursing theory is important in nursing practice. The two theorists that are relevant to my nursing practice are Florence Nightingale and Hildegard Peplau. Florence Nightingale theory was about the patient having a clean and healing environment (Smith & Park, 2015, p. 51). The theory that Hildegard Peplau created was the importance of nurse-patient relationships (Smith & Park, 2015, p. 68). Both of these theories put the patient’s safety and care first. When I am at work I try to form a healthy and healing relationship with all my patients. I also make sure the environment that they are in is conducive to healing, it is hard to do that sometime working in the emergency room. Sometimes it is the little things that a nurse can do for a patient that will make all the difference. Taking both of these theories into
The best way to look at nursing theories is like the foundational block. Nursing theories are important set the tone of how a nurse will practice. A nurse will use intuition, practice, past expertise and events, and couple with learned theories to work every day in order to give the best patient care. it is all the more important to appreciate what first advanced nursing beyond mechanisms of practice to becoming a knowledge-based force in healthcare: That force is nursing theory and the theoretical thinking and research that generate theory. The complexity and depth of nursing are reflected in its structure of knowledge, which includes discipline-specific components such as philosophies, theories, and research and practice methodologies”( Reed, 2006). Patient care is a wide topic, but a key role in a patient’s care is the patient themselves, an educated patient is vital to their well being and higher level of care.
Based on the definition of nursing and the training of nurses, it is convincing enough to make the conclusion that nursing is both a science and an art. Since it is a medical profession, which requires heavy input from the study of biology, chemistry and physics, it qualifies to be termed a science.
Nursing is considered one of the most trusted professions in the world. It is an essential part in the caregiving of sick, injured, and even healthy individuals. Developing a philosophy with any profession is the beginning basis of any practice. The nursing philosophy is usually incorporated from the science of nursing. That is because the field of health care is constantly changing, which causes the need of better competence in the health field of providing caring (Flagg, 2015). With nursing it starts by the science behind it. Then along with knowledge and experiences, that is when the nursing philosophy is developed. Researching differences between new ideas and cultural differences can then expand the viewpoint into a bigger picture.
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
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 arguably the most influential nurse that has ever lived. She was named after her birthplace Florence, Italy. Her life spanned from May 12th, 1820 to August 13th, 1910; but her impact on nursing as a profession will live on forever. From a young age, Nightingale was exposed to hospitals and their contents, developing an interest in taking care for those who were ill. She also disliked the lack of opportunities presented to women in the workplace. Her interest in taking care of the sick, and in providing women with better opportunities fueled her research and nursing advances. Some of her major impacts include an increase in health standards through gathering and presentation of sanitation statistics, a greater view of