Origins Of Nursing
Thesis
The profession of nursing has been evolving throughout history; the roots go back to the Roman Empire. The pioneering efforts of Florence Nightingale gave the nursing profession notable recognition, which inspired women to obtain higher education and join the profession of nursing smartly.
Introduction
The research revolves around how the profession of nursing originated before 1600, with the consideration of Western civilization. The paradigm of nursing has been known as one of the crucial features of human healthcare for centuries, and it has faced many eras of evolution. The immense level of historical evolution and innovation was observed in the noble and highly respected profession of nursing throughout the centuries. Different facets of history played a crucial role in the overall development of the features of the nursing profession. It is notable to mention that earlier facets of nursing were specifically determined by services of religious principles. The religious approach was significant and necessary as well to lay down the foundation of different nursing services (Klainberg and Dirschel).
The era of the 16th century is extremely crucial as it provided the approach of the proper meaning to the profession of nursing. Many men and women have been involved in the care of the sick and wounded in history. One English woman from Great Britain named Florance Nightingale changed the entire history of nursing in the 19th century. Florance was born on May 12, 1920; she was an exceptional lady with knowledge of mathematics, statistics, nursing, and science. She was the most phenomenal professional nurse ever born on the face of planet Earth. She was not only witty and confident but also an exciting and privileged nurse ( Martha, 2001).
The Legacy Of Florance Nightingale
Florance was born into a rich family, which enabled her to receive an advanced education, which motivated thousands of women to acquire better education afterwards. In England, women were not highly educated in the 19th century, but their fathers played a great role in educating their daughters. Florance heard the voice of God when she was 16, and she wanted to do something special to help others in her community; she had the passion to help the sick in her area, Hampshire. At that time, nursing was not a respectable and easy profession; Florance insisted on attending nursing school and returned home to become a trained, proud nurse ( Martha, 2001).
If we talk about the influence of Florance Nightingale, she lived up to the phenomenal age of 90 and died in August 1910. She was buried in the Hamshire Church and was the most remarkable woman in the history of the nursing profession ever lived. All the people in the future will experience healthcare problems in their time, and it is due to the remarkable contribution of Florence Nightingale that healthcare and nursing are transformed to provide brilliant care to patients in the modern technological world.
The Historical Development In The Roman Ages
Undoubtedly, the profession of nursing has a significant history that explains the approach of different generations of healthcare in Europe, which is related to the paradigm of sick or injured. Here, the specific goal is to assess the origin of the profession of nursing before the year 1600 with the consideration of Western civilization. The fact is that the original facet of nursing evolved over the years to become something like that in the modern world. It is evident that today, nursing is known as one of the most important and essential professions related to the well-being of people and the solution to their health problems. The healthcare facilities have evolved over the centuries as well. The overall prospect of the history indicates that the feature of nursing was acknowledged firstly as one profession during the period of 300 A.D. This period is also known as the era of the Roman Empire. It was the particular period in history when the first hospitals came into being in every town of the kingdom of Romans, which is considered the crucial paradigm of nursing development in history. Many nurses exist but have limited skills to provide healthcare services to patients. The paradigm of the particular form of nursing was actively considered to provide help to people when they were sick or injured (GooGoo, n.d).
Quotes By Nightingale
“How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.”
“Women have no sympathy, and my experience of women is almost as large as Europe.“
“Every nurse ought to be careful to wash her hands very frequently during the day; if her face too, so much better.”
Wise and humane management of a patient is the best safeguard against inspection”.
History Of Male / Female Nurses
Male nurses, along with female nurses, were known as hypourgoi and played an important role in the provision of healthcare facilities to patients. The particular characteristics of both the male and female nurses for that specific period were a significant factor in transforming the profession of nursing and also became the reason for the expansion of nursing worldwide. It is crucial to understand that the prospect of nursing went through many phases of revolutions to reach its existing stage in contemporary settings ( Marilyn, 2010).
The Middle Ages also played a crucial role in developing the concept of nursing in the European world. The role and development of the Catholic church especially helped Western society to develop the dimension of nursing. The middle ages can be considered as the facet of many innovations and developments in the field of healthcare and nursing. The particular industry of nursing grows with the help of changing features of methods and techniques of the provision of health services (Theofanidis and Sapountzi-Kripa). These developments in the field of healthcare provided the footprints of modern nursing. Religion was also the necessary foundation for the implementation of the different techniques in nursing in history. The role of nurses is immensely vast in hospitals compared to today’s nursing patterns ( Marilyn, 2010).
The period from the 500s to 600s was extremely influential in nursing; the very first hospital was built in the area of Merida, Spain. Most of the nurses of that particular hospital originally belonged to the facet of the Catholic Church. Some hospitals were not effectively managed in the 800’s. The role of Emperor Charlemagne was immensely crucial as he took the necessary steps to align the features of hospitals with medical technology. Emperor aligned the hospitals with the religious paradigm as well, which was a crucial step ( Marilyn, 2010).
10th And 11th Centuries Developments
The 10th and 11th centuries were also crucial in the expansion of nursing in the Western world. The prospect of nursing was immensely growing due to the different instructions delivered by the rulers of that time period. Housing hospitals played an important part, as did the effective consideration of the separate infirmary. This consideration was closely connected to the Catholic religion in the West as well; these particular forms of monasteries made it mandatory for the nurses to provide different forms of services to the patients. This specific model of health was immensely recognized and implemented by many countries, including Germany and France (nursing-theory.org, 2016).
This model is crucial because it provides guidelines for nurses regarding their responsibilities. These general guidelines emphasize the availability of nurses for the patients/ The overall structure of the monasteries in that particular time period demands the increasing need for nurses and doctors to provide health services to the patients. It was considered the duty of the priest to give the necessary support to the hospital staff. During 1200 and 1600, almost 150 hospitals were established in Germany alone. It was the time of the great expansion of the role of nurses in the West. It changed the facet of nursing dramatically with the advancement of hospitals in Europe ( Theofanidis, 2015).
Conclusion
To conclude the above discussion, it is crucial to mention that the particular era of history, including the 1000’s, was important for the evolution of the nursing profession. Religion and influential people like Florance Nightingale did an immensely great job of evolving and transforming the profession of nursing in the 19th century as well. Nightingale was the mother of nursing as she used her multitalented skills to transform the facet of the nursing profession and encouraged women to advance their education and enter into nursing without fear. This particular form led the nursing sector to a new and different paradigm of health and care, which opened the way to the modern form of nursing in the region of the West, where hundreds of hospitals were created in Europe.
Work Cited
Craft-Rosenberg, Martha, and Janice Ann Denehy. 2001. Nursing Interventions For Infants, Children, And Families. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Staff, Institute of Medicine, GooGoo S Wunderlich, and Frank Sloan. 1900. Nursing Staff In Hospitals And Nursing Homes. Washington: National Academies Press.
Klainberg, Marilyn, and Kathleen Dirschel. Today’s Nursing Leader: Managing, Succeeding, Excelling. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2010.
“The History of Nursing.” Nursing Theory, 2016, http://www.nursing-theory.org/articles/The-History-of-Nursing.php.
Theofanidis, Dimitrios, and Despina Sapountzi-Kripa. “Nursing and Caring: An Historical Overview from Ancient Greek Tradition to Modern Times.” International Journal of Caring Sciences, vol. 8, no. 3, 2015, p. 791.
