Nursing Heritage notes Florence Nightingale and Jean Watson short summary

The nursing pioneer I chose was Florence Nightingale. I felt I could relate most to her with my experience in a hospital setting. When I read about how Nightingale first found the soldiers in a hospital still wearing the dirty uniforms they had been brought there in, it triggered some experiences of patients coming to my floor from the ER after being in a car accident. The patients were not clean and still wearing the clothes they had on during the accident. Nightingale changed the way that hygiene and elementary care were viewed. I feel that since I started my job at the hospital, my views have been influenced as well, making sure no part of the body is neglected.

Jean Watson is the theorist I chose. I liked her theory because it dealt with human caring and shows just how important that is in a person's health. I related most to this theorist because I feel I do every thing possible to add the caring element to my work. You sometimes see that people do "just enough" to get the job done so they can get their paycheck and go home. I do not ever wish to become a person like that. I find that just taking even an extra minute when it's busy can make such a difference to the patient. Holding a hand when someone is frightened can mean the world to a patient in a difficult situation. They know you're there for them. Adding reassurance for a patient who feels overwhelmed or hopeless could mean a drastic change in their therapy. A patient who has a more positive outlook seems to do better and heal faster decreasing their stay in the hospital.

One site that would be helpful to me as a nursing student is http://www.healthweb.org. It has a range of categories to help find information and lead you to other websites dealing with that specific subject. It gives you several choices to chose from, so your information isn't limited to one