Historical Development of Nursing Science

1058 Words5 Pages
The Historical Development of Nursing
Cari A. Neises-O'Connor
NURS 513
January 21, 2013
Dr. Margaret Mead, DPN, RN

The Historical Development of Nursing

Every profession has members to compose a hall of fame so to speak. Nursing is no different and it begins with Florence Nightingale. Miss Nightingale is considered the mother of nursing and the first to create theory along with graphing statistical data, although her work was not considered to be theory until much later (George 2011). As years pass, the profession of nursing has changed, as well as the relationship between science, and nursing science which has evolved into the profession of nursing seen today. Disciplines from both the arts and the sciences have shaped nursing theory. Evidence based practice, the result of nursing theory, guides the practice of nursing and explains how nurses do nursing.
Timeline
Florence Nightingale, born 1820, conducted most of her notes on nursing during the Crimean war. She sought to manipulate the environment so her patients’ bodies might heal themselves. She saw a correlation between hand washing, clean linens, and daily bathing as a means to bringing her patients to a better health status. Several of her theories, even though 150 years old, are used today in the in-patient setting. Personal hygiene and clean linens are offered each day because of Nightingale. From the time of Nightingale until the Civil war, there was no formal education for nurses. The term nurse was used for anybody who administered care to the needy, the sick, or the poor. Dorthea Dix (1802-1887) was a teacher by trade, was responsible for recruiting women to be nurses, and taught them to minister to the soldiers of the Civil War. Many women at this time were not trained as nurses, but worked on the principles of Nightingale. In 1873, Linda Richards became the first formally trained nurse
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