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What was virginia henderson's concept of nursing
Contributions of Florence Nightingale in nursing practice
Contributions of Florence Nightingale in nursing practice
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Virginia Henderson was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Having been named after the state of Virginia, she moved there when she was four years of age. She attended Bellevue, a preparatory school her grandfather owned. Then she furthered her education at the Army School of Nursing in Washington, D.C. and took courses at Teacher’s College, where she graduated in 1921.
Henderson first practiced nursing at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City. Then in 1924 she started teaching in Virginia at Norfolk Protestant Hospital, where she was the first teacher in the school of nursing. She later returned to New York to obtain Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Teacher’s College, where she then taught for 16 years and practiced nursing at teaching hospitals.
Henderson saw a need to update the definition of nursing from the era of Florence Nightingale, the first nursing theorist. The emergence of modern medicine outdated the significance of principles from Nightingale’s time. Henderson's definition of nursing states:
The nurse does for others what they would do for themselves if they...
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’s development from an occupation to a profession follows the devotion and sacrifice of many amazing women throughout history. Considered to be one of the oldest professions, women have performed what could be considered nursing duties since the beginning of time. Although there have been many events and many individuals who have contributed to nursing’s evolution from the occupation it was once considered to the profession that now exists, the development of formal education opportunities and scholarly resources and the women who created them is what fascinates me most. Without knowing, each of the following five women helped lay the groundwork for what Lucie Kelly, RN, PhD, FAAN, eventually termed the eight characteristics of a profession
On October 10, 1927, Clarence L. Johnson Sr. & his wife Garnett Henley Johnson gave birth to yet another daughter by the name of Hazel Winifred Johnson in West Chester, Pennsylvania. After, her and her family moved to a Quaker town called Mavern. She was born into a family whose values were strictly discipline, diligence, unity, and pursuit of education. Between her and her other 6 siblings (2 sisters and 4 brothers), Hazel was the one out of them all who always dreamed of being a nurse. She went and applied for Chester School of Nursing, however, she was denied because she was an African American. After being denied to Chester’s School of Nursing, Johnson went on to further her education elsewhere by going to start training at the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing where she graduated in 1950. She then goes on to work in the Harlem Hospital Emergency Ward for 3 years and then practiced on the medical cardiovascular ward at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Philadelphia, all while working to get her baccalaureate at Villanova University. (Hazel Johnson-Brown: Visionary Videos: NVLP: African American History)
“The term nursing science was rarely used in the literature until the late 1950s. However, since that time there has been an increasing emphasis, one might even say a sense of urgency, regarding the development of a b...
Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. Even in her early life, Florence would find it necessary to help the sick people in her community. As the years went on Florence realized nursing was her future because it was her divine purpose. Her parents were not enthused by her plans to become a nurse and even prohibit her to pursue nursing. It was frowned upon in this time period of a woman with her social background to become a nurse. It was actually in the rights for her to marry a man of means, but when Florence was seventeen she declined to marry the man who offered her hand in marriage. She had her reasons for not accepting the proposal, she new she did not have time for a marriage at this time in her life. Despite the disapproval from her parents Florence set out to chase her dreams of becoming a nurse and enrolled as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserswerth, Germany.
Mary Eliza Mahoney was born May 7, 1845 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Smith, J, & Phelps, S, 1992) Mary Mahoney was the first African American professional nurse. She spent over 40 years as a private duty nurses going to sick people’s homes nursing them back to health. She was such a wonderful private duty nurse that after joining a nursing directory, Mary was called upon time after time by the families that hired her all over the country near and faraway. Mary Mahoney was a member of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada now known as the American Nurses Association (ANA) since 1896. (Webster, Raymond B, 1999) She was also one of the first members of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) which was a minority nursing organizations that was focused on equality for African-American nurses comparable to that of non minority nurses. Mary was named chaplain of the organization and was later named a lifetime member. After her death on January 4, 1926 from breast cancer the National Association of Colored Graduates Nurses named an award in honor of Mary Eliza Mahoney, after the NACGN was disbanded in 1951 the American Nurses Association continued the Mary Eliza Mahoney award. (Webster, Raymond B, 1999)
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
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.
This paper is a first attempt at forming and articulating my own philosophy of nursing.
Henderson’s major concepts were to relate nursing, health of patient and environment. She believed “the unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities con...
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).
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 has come a long way since the days of Florence nightingale and the strive she took to get nursing from simple caregivers to the nurses of today. Nursing will always be a profession that will continue to grow and provide quality care to patients. While nursing still sometimes struggles to be recognized as a discipline it will continue to expand and become intricate part of the healthcare
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.
She thought that becoming a nurse was something that changed your life instead of it just being a simple way for women to make money. The writings and teachings of Nightingale transformed the view of nursing into that of a scholarly, fulfilling vocational effort for wellness. Her most well-known teachings of nursing come from her writing piece Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not. It establishes a clear view on who a nurse is, and why they are important. What she writes may be looked at today as common sense, but at the time her ideas were ground breaking. She wrote that taking care of a patient is about taking care of all their aspects of health, recognizing that patients are people too. A good amount of the time when people used to get sick they were sent away from society often expected to die. Nightingale believed that everyone who is ill deserves a chance to be treated. However, she also drew boundaries as to what nurses should do. She made it very clear that the doctors should be the ones deciding on medicine and treatment, while nurses are still equally important. This piece of writing alone challenged women to become nurses, and proved the title of nursing to be something you had to earn. It offered guidance to the nursing community, and propelled the respect for nurses even further in a society that had just began to accept