Introduction
Nursing is one of the oldest professions in the world. In tribal human communities, the first nurses were designated to take care of the sick and injured. Nowadays, the practice is defined as the autonomous and collaborative provision of medical care to individuals, families, and larger communities, with treatment and prevention purposes (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). It involves promoting healthy practices, illness prevention, and long-term, palliative, and geriatric care. This paper aims to offer a comprehensive view of the history of nursing, major influences on the profession, and the evolution of nursing theory.
Three Major Influences on Nursing
Religious, folk, and military perceptions influenced nursing as a profession. The roots of nursing come from the folk perceptions of the healer or a medicine person, who usually was the sole possessor of knowledge and provided treatments and cures at a local level. At this stage, nursing was primitive, the transfer of knowledge was sparse, and people relied heavily on tradition (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). At the same time, it was readily available and within proximity. In modern nursing, primary medical care practices resemble the early folk version of care.
Religion had a significant influence on nursing, particularly in the West. Early hospitals were associated with religious orders and the Church. First centralized facilities dealing with the sick and injured were organized by religious institutions (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). They were also the ones who accumulated knowledge and promoted new, innovative ways of treatment. Many modern hospitals took roots from the facilities they were initially housed in. Therefore, centralized hospital nursing was greatly influenced by religious practices.
Finally, there is the military aspect of nursing. Saving lives on the battlefield was always a prerogative, given how ancient battles left many injured and sick. Military nursing revolved largely around traumas and weapon-related injuries, triage nursing as well as preventative and hygienic practices (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). Florence Nightingale, considered the mother of modern nursing, developed her techniques assisting the British troops during the Crimean War (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). Exposure to diseases and injuries helped shape and centralize nursing and nursing practices to be implemented in the military and civilian lives.
Evolution of Nursing Theory
Florence Nightingale developed the first comprehensive theory of nursing. This theory emphasized and established four major nursing concepts: person, health, environment, and practice. The person stands for the patient, their experiences, autonomy, rights, and decisions (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). Health is a concept related to both the patient and nursing in that it represents a positive state of being, which could be influenced by disease and medicine (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). The environment stands for external physical and psychological factors that can affect the patient’s health (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). Finally, nursing itself stands for the role of professional and medical practices in achieving betterment for the patient.
Nightingale’s theory emphasized the role of the environment and nursing practices first and foremost. At first, nursing was not patient-centric and placed the nurse as the sole decision-maker, with the patient assuming a submissive position (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). Modern theories depart from those ideas instead of making the patient an active part in their recuperative process (Bullough & Bullough, 2021). These theories emphasize prevention, conscious collaboration, openness, and sensitivity to cultures and traditions.
Conclusions
Nursing is an ancient profession influenced by the trade’s folk, religious, and military aspects. Modern nursing combines the influences of medical practices that came before but is firmly rooted in centralized methods pioneered by Florence Nightingale. Today’s practices focus on the patient and getting them more involved in their recovery.
Reference
Bullough, V. L., & Bullough, B. (2021). The care of the sick: The emergence of modern nursing. Routledge.