Nursing was not closely connected to professional medical expertise when it originally began, and much to do with gender and willingness to work. Women gained medical skills from their moms or other women in the same profession in the early days of nursing. It was not considered a genuine occupation, but the nursing profession has altered dramatically in recent years. There are more thorough training programs, a more diverse workforce, and a level of prestige connected with this specialty of medicine that previously did not exist.
Nurses had relatively basic training at the start of their careers. Earlier, exercise was deemed unnecessary, and carers were not provided with systematic training, rather than outside health practitioners, mothers, and family members providing care to many unwell individuals. In the late 1800s, Florence Nightingale was one of the first nurses in Britain to offer some form of training for nurses, where she taught specific principles to women who wished to be carers. Women in the United States were given lectures and training manuals on caring for women during labor and postpartum.
For different forms of nursing, there are several nursing programs, specialties, degrees, and certifications. Still, all of them need the student to complete specific certifications to offer patients health care. Nurses were taught fundamental healthcare skills and hospital etiquette in the first part of the twentieth century, including approaching patients, dressing appropriately, and treating patients like guests in their homes. Nursing education is now more focused on academics than wearing stockings and addressing patients by their surname. For many women in the nursing industry, the healthcare environment used to be at home or on the battlefield. When possible, there was a clear desire for and need for health treatment at home. Home visits were more common than hospital visits, which were normally reserved for patients who were terminally ill, seriously injured, or dying. Nurses currently work in hospitals, doctors’ offices, home health care agencies, and assisted living facilities, among other medical settings.
Nurses are currently in demand as medical professionals in schools, penal facilities, and the military. Nurses are even going across the United States to cover nursing needs while obtaining experience and income. With the addition of training for nurses, the environment for nurses began to shift, making them more regarded medical workers rather than just women who assisted physicians and gave sponge washes. Nurses were in high demand across the country due to the increased responsibilities. Many women thrived in this professional path, which included working in hospitals and giving care in the home.
An interesting question in the nursing study is the differences between baccalaureate and associate degree nurses. The research projects examined included a wide range of themes, instruments, and circumstances. Nurses with a baccalaureate degree are more equipped for a wide variety of nursing skills and work in the professional capacity for which they were trained. Associate degree nurses perform effectively in technical tasks for which they were introduced and leadership responsibilities for which they were not prepared. However, graduates of the two types of schools were rarely used in the same way in the service environment. Individual nurse role performance was more likely to be the source of differences.
When Florence Nightingale saw that a filthy environment and restricted airflow might harm patients’ health in the 1800s, she improved patient care. She then gathered medical data using patient demographics to figure out how many people died in hospitals and what the mortality rate was for various diseases and traumas. (Alligood, 2021). In 1972, Archie Cochrane established using randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and other forms of research in nursing practice. Before Cochrane’s contribution to healthcare, medical care was based on incorrect assumptions and did not consider the particular patient. RTCs, he claimed, were the most reliable kind of evidence, and his claim laid the groundwork for the EBP movement.
Worthy of discussion is why evidence-based practice or EBP in nursing is so important. Patients are cared for by registered nurses (RNs) who use validated therapies. Nurses study evidence-based practice (EBP) in a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree, which helps them highlight treatment options that might improve their patients. EBP has become a critical component of excellent patient care in recent decades. In nursing, evidence-based practice (EBP) combines research findings, clinical experience, and a patient’s preferences (Perfetto, 2019). EBP in nursing equips nurses with the scientific evidence they need to make well-informed decisions. Nurses may use EBP to remain up to speed on new medical procedures for patient care.
It is also worth mentioning why communication and cooperation are essential in nursing. Patients rarely have one professional to care for them in today’s healthcare environments. Instead, patient care is delivered by an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals, and nurses must be prepared and skilled to operate as part of a team (Labrague et al., 2018). An RN to BSN curriculum prepares nurses to participate in the delivery and administration of patient care. Because of an aging population with chronic conditions including diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and renal disease. These disorders are complicated and require specialist treatment, which necessitates a multidisciplinary approach to care.
To create solid work relationships, share resources, and solve problems, teams of nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers must communicate clearly and efficiently. Besides, when treatment is coordinated, it reduces the stress that patients may endure and improves results. In addition, cooperation has been shown to lessen the number of concerns associated with nursing burnout. Nurses are not the primary givers of care. Thus, they do not bear sole responsibility for a patient’s well-being. They may rely on their teammates to assist them in making judgments.
References
Alligood, M. R. (2021). Nursing theorists and their work E-Book. Elsevier Gezondheidszorg.
Labrague, L. J., McEnroe – Petitte, D. M., Fronda, D. C., & Obeidat, A. A. (2018). Interprofessional simulation in undergraduate nursing program: An integrative review. Nurse Education Today, 67, 46–55.
Perfetto, L. M. (2019). Preparing the nurse of the future: Emergent themes in online RN-BSN education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 40(1), 18–24.