Historical Development of Nursing

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Historical Development of Nursing Timeline University Phoenix

The history of nursing started years ago when the ideas and practices of medicines was considered primitive for today’s standards. Religion, magic, and medical treatment intertwined during prehistoric times. There was not an understanding of how illness and germs were transmitted. Transmission vector and the germ theory came later. The early patient and healer believed that seeking plants with supernatural powers was the cures for all sickness. Psychologically this was an attempt make them think healing came from magic. Illness could result, for instance, from the projection of an evil force or foreign object into a person by magic or sorcery. Albert S. Lyons (2012). Nursing as a science has only recently become more accepted in the medical community. Engineering, Math and other Sciences progressed quickly over the years however nursing was not considered to be a science. In the past two decades nursing has progressed as much or more than the Engineering and Math fields because of the women who have paved the way for future advancement. Florence Nightingale was the start of the spectacular journey of Science into nursing. Florence Nightingale was definitely a pioneer and made discoveries that were brilliant for her time in history. In 1859 during the Crimean War Florence Nightingale recruited 38 volunteers to help care for the wounded at a military hospital in Scutari. She quickly observed that the soldier’s basic need for hygiene was overlooked. The mortality rate along with war related diseases, such as cholera and typhus were very high compared to the surrounding hospitals. These conditions were unacceptable to Florence Nightingale, she worked to
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