Florence Nightingale

When nursing began, there was little consideration for formal training, and everything was dependent on one’s willingness to do the job. Nursing was not respected as a profession and was considered a skill that every mother had. Therefore, nursing was like an extension of homes duties. Florence Nightingale changed the narrative and introduced training programs that helped the nurse to understand medicine and caregiving in depth. Take for example, the present-day healthcare setting, has incorporated research as a primary scientific method for collecting data on important nursing aspects. Unlike two centuries ago when nursing was basic caregiving,  today nursing is about making  an observation, look into available literature, and come up with a hypothesis. As such, they use this to formulate their experiences and that of others to create experiments and analyses data to draw significant solutions. As compared to before 1800’s, modern-day nursing demands for quality healthcare that puts into consideration the role of healthcare givers, patients and their families. Therefore, through proper research, helps to create healthcare systems that promote quality health and lower mortality rates. However, 

History

The revolution in nursing began in 1884 when Nightingale participated in caregiving during the Crimerian war. Her work reflected significant improvement it came it came to reduced mortality rates and enhanced quality care.  According to nursing history, in the beginning there was no formal training and people viewed it as a gender thing or the willingness to do the job (Jeffries, 2015). As a result, death tolls were higher because of the lack of respect that people had towards the trade. The fact that most nurses were women made it worse for nursing as they did not get respected. Because women were homemakers, nursing was part of their job. In 1854, Nightingale When Nightingale made her significant contribution towards nursing she paved the way for advocacy and evidence-based research (Jeffries, 2015). According to her research, the high numbers of mortality rates were due to lack of supplies, bad environment, poor nutrition, and lack of rest for the soldiers (Arnone & Fitzsimons, 2015).In 1857, she introduced training as part of nursing program. She also advocated for 24 hours in patient-checkup that nurses practice today.

 Because nursing was based on religion, Nightingale incorporated integrated nursing care that not only focused on the sick people, but their environment as well. Through her work, Nightingale worked as a nursing advocate and transformed nursing into a profession by paving the way for research and training programs. Looking back, nursing has evolved from basic practice to a professional that focusses on overall well-being of the patient and their environment, through evidence-based practice.

Significance To Health Issues

According to Nightingale, sanitary living conditions, nutrition, and overall well-being are significant when it comes to nursing (Oliver, 2018). Presently, nursing has gone through significant changes to help in improving medical care. The numerous training programs in nursing have helped to strengthen hospitals, instil a sense of responsibility in nursing, create a sense of family and focus on patient care. As a result, it has saved many people’s lives and created dedicate healthcare professions. Because training is significant in the begging of the nursing profession, it has helped to enhance research aiming to improve healthcare quality (Jeffries, 2015). In the beginning, training was not necessary and thus, was not offered to nurses. As a result, with little formal training, there were many poor healthcare outcomes as well as increased mortality rates. Since training began in 1880s through Florence Nightingale, it has taught persons who want to be nurses the significance of research and data. Today, there is a manual that helped nurses to provide quality healthcare resulting in better healthcare outcomes. 

Role of the Nurse

Florence Nightingale promoted scientific research investigation. When she began, Nightingale emphasized on the hospital environment- sanitization (Oliver, 2018). As time progressed, she advocated for the role of the nurse is to incorporate evidence-based research in nursing practice, as well as to encourage research-informed decisions during clinical practice. As a researcher, nightingale shed light on various experimental methods such as assessing, diagnosing, implementing, planning as well as evaluating (Oliver, 2018). As such, nurses today need to make conclusions based on every step of the nursing process, from simple but crucial methods such as hand hygiene to how one should place a patient. The role of nursing in healthcare today has progressed to provide evidence-based practice because nursing evolves (Arnone & Fitzsimons, 2015). For example, while Homan’s sign was once the leading indicator of deep vein thrombosis, today, research points it out as unreliable. As such, nursing programs are now about accuracy and encourage nurses to remain updated on current research to improve patient outcomes.

Relevance to Nursing Practice

The effect of Nightingale’s practice in nursing is that it has utilized advocacy as the primary principle (Jeffries, 2015). While she does not directly address the concept of support, Nightingale demonstrates it in several ways in her work. Her actions, motivations, and thoughts reflect in her correspondence (Oliver, 2018). She wrote several government documents highlighting on healthcare in the military. Her writing, as well as practice, has transformed nursing from the role of home duties to a research-based profession. The books that Nightingale wrote for the public have acted as manuals for professional nursing.

Conclusion

To sum it up, Florence Nightingale has transformed nursing practice by creating evidence-based theories that have helped to enhance medical decisions. As a result, nursing is about creating practices that advocate and have paved the way for better healthcare access. Through published studies, training, and practice manuals, they provide clinical information that promotes better healthcare in nursing. Through systematic reviews, research studies and academic journals, nursing practice has significantly reduced mortality rates and supported healthcare outcome.

References

Arnone, J. M., & Fitzsimons, V. (2015). P lato, N ightingale, and Nursing: Can You Hear Me 

Now?. International journal of nursing knowledge, 26(4), 156-162.

Jeffries, P. R. (2015). The evolving health care system: The need for nursing education 

reform. Journal of professional nursing, 31(6), 441-443.

Oliver, N. (2018). The History of Nursing. Transitioning from RN to MSN: Principles of 

Professional Role Development.