We explain what nursing is and what is the history of the emergence of this profession. Also, famous historical nurses.
What is nursing?
Nursing is a profession that includes the care, autonomous care and collaboration of the health of the human being. Nurses are dedicated, broadly, to treating potential or actual health problems that a person presents.
Florence Nightingale He promoted the first theory of nursing approximately 150 years ago, from which new models emerge, each one having a different philosophy of the way of understanding nursing and the care provided to the patient. In 1852 it was the beginning of professional nursingAs through the publication of Nightingale’s “Nursing Notes” book, nurses began to feel an interest in acquiring technical knowledge about their profession.
Nursing today is a college level career that is dedicated to the care and care of medical patients. There is another profession within the nursing career that performs functions that complete those of the nurse, and it is the profession of nursing care technician, more commonly called a nursing assistant.
Famous nurses
- Florence Nightingale. She is considered the mother of modern nursing. He promoted the care of the environment to provide a speedy recovery for the sick.
- Marianne Cope. He opened and ran the first hospitals in North America, implementing new cleanliness standards that were instrumental in the development of the American hospital system.
- Dorothea Orem. She was the author of the self-care deficit theory.
- Hildegard Peplau. He wrote “Interpersonal Relations in Nursing” in 1952.
- Callista Roy. He wrote “Introduction to Nursing: An adaptation model” in 1976.
- Jean Watson. Author of the philosophical curative factors in 1975 and of «The theory of Human Caring»(The theory of human care).
- Martha Rogers. His theory of unitary human beings states that the human being is more than the sum of its parts and that it is the owner of feelings and ideas.
- Saint John of God. He was the founder of the Hospitaller Order of San Juan de Dios.
History of nursing
In ancient times and contrary to the thinking of most people, the nursing profession was practiced by men for much of history. When opening the first nursing school in India 250 BC, only the men were considered just “pure” to be able to learn the profession.
The origin of patient care and nursing practice has to do with maternal interventions, who ensured the continuity of life. Feeding in the first moments of a child’s life is considered the oldest care practice in an individual.
At the time of the great Greek thinkers such as Socrates or Homer, it was already imposed that the act of cleaning and self-care of people kept them alive and gave them a better quality of it.
Christianity was strongly linked to the practice of nursing care in monasteries through religious orders. As a consequence of the Crusades, the strong demand for hospitals promoted the creation of military orders dedicated exclusively to nursingAmong them were the Teutonic Knights, the Knights of Lazarus and the Hospitaller Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem. The Hospital de Obispo Masona (6th century) was the first Spanish hospital dedicated solely to caring for the sick.