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While the nursing profession is one of the fastest-growing in the medical field, there is still a need to bridge the gap between theory and practice and encourage clinical nurses to participate in research activities. Nurses are responsible for promoting health, preventing disease, and helping patients deal with sickness. They may practice alone, but they also work closely with the rest of the health care team to meet each patient’s specific needs (Nicholls 355). A nurse’s job is to assist patients and their families deal with and even living with the disease so that the rest of their lives may go on as usual.
In addition to providing personal care, nurses perform a wide range of other duties. Healthcare and public health have always been at the forefront of innovation in healthcare and public health. People may question why nursing is a ‘profession’ rather than an ‘occupation’ but the distinction is in the level of commitment. Nurses collaborate with a wide range of medical specialists, and their strength is in their ability to do so while maintaining a constant focus on the patient’s needs. This paper will discuss the nursing profession’s development over the 1800s.
Development of the Nursing Profession over the 1800s World Civilization Class
The nursing profession is one of the biggest in the world. There was a great need for better healthcare workers in the medical industry during World War II, which led to an increase in the demand for nurses. As early as the 18th century, nursing was primarily a home-based career, which involved completing household tasks in the medical setting (Fowler 17). Many hospitals personally taught nurses during the profession’s early days, a role today done by academic institutions. Medical licensure and training have improved patient outcomes significantly from the early days of institutionalized healthcare.
Nurses did not do much healthcare work until the late 1800s. In the hospital’s early days, nursing staff members were mostly responsible for cleaning and cooking. Cleaning tasks such as washing dishes, sweeping floors, and sanitizing eating areas were handled by hospital nurses (Alforque 9). Other frequent nurse duties included feeding patients, serving meals, and taking away meal trays. When the Civil War broke out in the United States, the nursing profession began to grow into one that incorporated patient care. Many people were injured and killed during World War II. Therefore, the medical profession had no option but to entrust the primarily domestically educated nursing staff with additional healthcare duties. Many nurse advocates had to become involved in this effort, even though this was a need.
Florence Nightingale is often regarded as the first professional nurse, even though nursing was practised before the mid-18th century. Nightingale, who is the learned daughter of aristocratic British parents, fostered societal norms by becoming a nurse despite her family’s affluence (Nicholls 356). Caring for strangers in their homes or hospitals was not considered a standard job path for well-bred females. Instead, they were expected to care for the sickest members of their own families and close friends. By contrast, Nightingale felt that well-educated women who were knowledgeable about scientific concepts and informed about healthy lives would significantly impact the treatment of ill people. As a result, she saw nursing as an appropriate professional choice for women, who at the time had few other possibilities for employment.
In the UK, the war also influenced the development of the nursing profession. Florence Nightingale played an important role in bringing battlefield medical techniques up to contemporary standards during the Crimean War. During the battle, Nightingale was able to test her theory that scientific medical techniques may enhance the health of patients (Nicholls 356). Her nation invited Nightingale to lead the first military medical team into combat. Modern nursing is guided by Nightingale’s recommendations, which are still used today. Florence Nightingale, a pioneering Victorian nurse was a major figure in nursing.
Nightingale influenced contemporary nursing in various ways. Nightingale started collecting data on British troops’ deaths when she served in the military. Astonishing results made her realize how much she needed to change. It was not long before Nightingale realized that inadequate hygiene and sanitation were linked to illness (Foth et al.). In her nursing practice, she was the first to document her results, express her viewpoints, provide evidence supporting her claims, and implement a solution. This is a technique that is still widely used in nursing today. For Nightingale, the Crimean War of 1854 was a chance to put her principles to the test. Public sentiment was stoked by newspaper reports that Russian troops who were cared for by religious groups fared better than British soldiers. British officials urged Nightingale to bring a small group of nurses to Scutari.
The barracks hospital was transformed within days of Nightingale and her nurses’ arrival, with windows opened for air, walls cleaned, nutritious food prepared and served, and drugs, as well as treatments, quickly delivered following 18th-century science (Foth et al.). The rates of death dropped drastically within weeks, and troops were no longer affected by infectious diseases brought on by unsanitary living conditions. A grateful public learned about the “Lady with the Lamp,” who made nightly visits to the ill and wounded within months. Nightingale’s opinion on the value of educated nurses became universally accepted by the end of the 18th century.
Florence Nightingale had a major impact on the development of nursing as it is known today, even though Europe and the United States made separate achievements in the time leading up to this point. The Florence Nightingale School for Nurses was established in London in 1860 when Nightingale founded the first nursing school globally. Modern nursing had its beginnings in this fashion, with the establishment of several nursing schools in the late 1800s that provided training and instruction for nurses entering the profession (Alforque 13). Nurses Agnes Elizabeth Jones, Clarissa Harlowe Barton and Linda Richards were instrumental in helping to establish several nursing schools in Japan and the US in the mid to late 1800s (Alforque 13). Nursing was born out of these women’s relentless efforts to ensure that everyone has access to high-quality health care.
German immigrants in the early 1800s introduced the term “deaconesses” to the rest of Europe. Nurses are called deaconesses because they are responsible for caring for other women in their community. In 1836, Theodor Fliedner built a deaconess motherhouse along the Rhine River, despite deaconesses being extinct for many decades (Alforque 15). Because of this, the floodgates were opened, and this kind of nursing became widely accepted in Germany. In addition, it is crucial to notice how nursing has evolved through time in all military contexts. In the 1860s, Queen Victoria of England started appointing Military General Hospitals, beginning with the Royal Victoria Hospital. In the Crimean War, the need for nursing necessitated this policy change. Several military hospitals were built to serve troops and military patients (Fowler 10). Thus, many nurses around Europe began working in these hospitals straight around that period. However, one thing jumped out: many of those available nurses were simply uneducated, both in terms of their profession and how to cope with the terrible circumstances brought on by war. It became evident that nurses would need the training to be better prepared to deal with any ailment while they were on the job.
The quality of nursing care in hospitals has fluctuated greatly throughout time due to the growth of urbanization and industrialization. The treatment provided to certain patients was really good. Women from religious nursing organizations were given nursing care and were noted for its high quality in the hospitals they founded (Fowler 15). There were some good and appalling examples of this care in the late 18th century when developments in medical practices and treatments necessitated the need for skilled nurses to care for patients in a hospital setting. There was a confluence of hospital necessities, doctors’ desires, and women’s yearning for meaningful employment that led to the creation of the trained nurse.
The paper has critically analyzed the development of the nursing profession in the 1800s world civilization class. When it comes to health care, it is evident that nurses will continue to play a significant part in the future, even though their position has grown tremendously in recent decades. Compared to the late 1800s, when nurses had to just attend school and get certification in nursing, it is now possible to attend nursing school and graduate in all desirable facets related to the profession.
Works Cited
Alforque, Jose Mari Louis G. “Evolution nursing: then, now and will be…” Perceptions of Filipino Registered Nurses on the Nursing Profession.” The Malaysian Journal of Nursing (MJN) 10.1, 2018, 8-18.
Foth, Thomas, Jette Lange, and Kylie Smith. “Nursing history as philosophy—towards a critical history of nursing.” Nursing Philosophy 19.3, 2018, e12210.
Fowler, Marsha D. “The influence of the social location of Nurses-as-women on the early development of nursing ethics.” Nursing Ethics: feminist perspectives. Springer, Cham, 2020, 3-21.
Nicholls, David A. “Where history is concerned: an editorial for the special issue on physiotherapy history.” Physiotherapy Theory and Practice 37.3, 2021, 355-358.
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