Example Nursing Discussion post
Short Assignments
Topic 3 DQ 1: How has nursing practice evolved over time? Discuss the key leaders and historical events that have influenced the advancement of nursing, nursing education, and nursing roles that are now part of the contemporary nursing profession.
The field of nursing, as a professional career and medical field, has evolved. When nursing started, it did not have much to do with formal medical training and everything to do with gender and willingness to perform a nurse's roles. When nursing began, women were taught medical skills by their mothers or other women in the same profession (Whitney, 2019). Nursing was not viewed as a respected trade; women were not viewed as a respectable gender. Women were considered caretakers, and nursing was just an extension of women’s roles at home (Overstreet, 2015). In the contemporary world, the nursing profession has changed considerably.
There are comprehensive training programs with more diversified staff and a level of respect associated with the nursing profession as an area of the medical field that never existed previously. An important milestone happened during Florence Nightingale, who revolutionized the nursing field to be seen as a meaningful profession. The drastic changes in the nursing profession have helped healthcare providers to increase the efficiency of medical care. There are better hospitals, where nurses are given more responsibility and have a sense of family and a focus on care for patients in the nursing field that has saved many lives and produced generations of committed medical practitioners (Whitney, 2019).
Moreover, the health care setting when nursing began used to be in the home or on the battlefield for most women in the nursing profession. Nursing was not recognized as a medical field until the early nursing programs that allowed nurses to work inside hospitals as employees who acquired medical knowledge emerged (Overstreet, 2015). Today, the medical settings where nurses practice include hospitals, physicians’ offices, nursing homes, or assisted living facilities. Nurses are now being regarded as medical professionals needed in schools, correctional facilities, or the military and not just in hospital settings.
Several key leaders have played a crucial role in the development of the history of nursing. These leaders include Nurse Jane Delano (1862-1919) who founded the American Red Cross Nursing Service. Jane Delano enlisted thousands of U.S. nurses during WWI and was the superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps (Whitney, 2019). Another key nursing leader was Clara Barton (1821-1912), the founder of the American Red Cross. Clara did not go to any nursing schools since, during her time, nursing was not much established, although her efforts made her offer self-taught nursing care (Whitney, 2019). Clara is renowned for her humanitarian works and civil rights advocacy in the history or nursing.
Topic 3 DQ 1: Discuss the difference between a nursing conceptual model and a nursing theory.
Select a nursing theory and provide a concise summary of it. Provide an example in nursing practice where the nursing theory you selected would be effective in managing patient care.
There is a distinct difference between a nursing model and a nursing theory. A nursing model is an abstract that is presented to help in guiding scholars in their research. The nursing conceptual model enables the researchers to develop ideas concerning ideas being investigated and the state of events. Conversely, a nursing theory describes a specific nursing phenomenon. A nursing theory is created based on the researcher's ideologies. In this essence, a nursing conceptual model can serve as a facilitative framework for organizing and conducting a research study. In contrast, a nursing theory describes a proposed and testable relationship between variables that are conceptually associated.
An example of a nursing theory is that of Dorothea Orem, known as the Self-care theory. This theory focuses on helping other to in manage self-care to sustain or enhance human function at an effective level. The self-care theory is defined as the practice of activities that persons initiate and perform on their own behalf to sustain life, health, and well-being (Whitney, 2019). For instance, this theory can be applied to a diabetes patient with the aim of managing diabetes. In this case, the NP will identify the patient’s needs and risk factors that the patient needs to avoid while caring for them (Hackel & Fawcett, 2018). Through the application of the self-care theory, the patient will learn the ways to meet his needs and avoid risk factors that may exacerbate his diabetes.
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References
Hackel, J., & Fawcett, J. (2018). Teaching and Learning From Case Studies: The Added Value of Using a Nursing Conceptual Model to Construct Cases. Nursing science quarterly, 31(3), 263-271.
Whitney, S. (2019). History of Professional Nursing .
Overstreet, M. (2015). How Nursing has Changed with Technology, An Issue of Nursing, E-Book (Vol. 50, No. 2). Elsevier Health Sciences.
