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Introduction
Nursing
is a profession focused on assisting individuals, families,
and communities in attaining, maintaining, and recovering
optimal health and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing
define it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting
quality of life as defined by persons and families, throughout
their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life.
Nursing
has existed in various forms in every culture, although the
definition of the term and the practice of nursing has changed
greatly over time. The oldest sense of the word in the English
language a woman employed to suckle and generally care for
a younger child. The former being known as a wet nurse and
the latter being known as a dry nurse.
In the
15th century, this developed into the idea of looking after
or advising another, not necessarily meaning a woman looking
after a child. Nursing has continued to develop in this latter
sense, although the idea of nourishing in the broadest sense
refers in modern nursing to promoting quality of life.
It was
during time of war that a significant development in nursing
history arose when Florence Nightingale, working to improve
conditions of soldiers in the Crimean War, laid the foundation
stone of professional nursing with the principles summarised
in the book Notes on Nursing.
Florence
Nightingale was fundamental in establishing the realization
of the need for nurses and she could be considered the "Mother
of Modern Nursing." Other important nurses in the development
of the profession include: Mary Seacole, who also worked as
a nurse in the Crimea; Agnes Elizabeth Jones and Linda Richards,
who established quality nursing schools in the USA and Japan,
and Linda Richards who was officially America's first trained
nurse, graduating in 1873 from the New England Hospital for
Women and Children in Boston.
New Zealand
was the first country to regulate nurses nationally, with
adoption of the Nurses Registration Act on the 12th of September
, 1901. Ellen Dougherty was the first registered nurse. North
Carolina was the first state in the United States to pass
a nursing licensure law in 1903.
Nurses
have experienced difficulty with the hierarchy in medicine
that has resulted in an impression that nurses primary purpose
is to follow the direction of medics. This tendency is certainly
not observed in Nightingale's Notes on Nursing, where the
doctors are mentioned relatively infrequently and often in
critical tones, particularly relating to bedside manner.
The modern era has seen the development of nursing degrees
and nursing has numerous journals to broaden the knowledge
base of the profession. Nurses are often in key management
roles within health services and hold research posts at universities.
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