What Is A Historical Perspective In Nursing

Historical Perspective Essay
Carmelo James
NUR/518
February 2, 2015
Jane Cash
Historical Perspective Essay
According to Florence Nightingale, “the force for healing resides within the human being and that, if the environment is appropriately supportive, humans will seek to heal themselves” (George, 2011, p. 25). In this essay, Nightingale’s theory, contribution to research, and nursing development will be explained, which includes Nightingale’s paradigm.
The Historical Development of Nursing – A Timeline
Wars are an important aspect in the evolution and development of nursing. In 1854, Florence Nightingale, viewed as the mother of modern nursing, went to the front of the Crimean War (George, 2011, p. 48). Nightingale approached nursing
The theorists of this decade included Rogers, King, Orem, Travelbee, Levine, Neuman, Meleis, Paterson and Zderad, Roy, Barnard, Newman, and Watson (George, 2011, p. 11). Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory focused on the independence of the patient and caring for themselves for faster recovery. This model can apply to different nursing settings. Her theory discusses the patient’s activities of daily living (George, 2011, pp. 115-117). Imogene King’s Attainment Theory discusses the nurse-patient communication, setting goals, and taking actions to complete the goals. Betty Neuman’s model allows the nursing students a holistic view about the aspects of the patient’s physiological, psychological, sociological, and developmental side. Sister Calista Roy created a nursing program and taught in several states, including Arizona, California, and Idaho. Her nursing model is based on human being, adaptation, and nursing. Jean Watson’s model describes how the nurse demonstrates to the patient how he or she cares about the patient. As Watson (Alligood and Tomey, 2006) states, “caring in nursing conveys physical acts, but embraces the mindbodyspirit as it reclaims the embodied spirit as its focus of attention. It suggests a methodology through both art and aesthetics, of being as well as knowing and doing. It concerns itself with the art of
The theories promote patient healing. Starting from Florence Nightingale and her research of decreasing mortality rate, more theories were developed and continue to improve patient care. A description of the domain of nursing and the nature of the phenomenon studied by nurse scientists continue to evolve. With the improvement in science and its importance in developing nursing 's body of knowledge, the nursing profession will continue to enhance its practice. The contributions that nursing science has made on the developments in nursing research, nursing education, nursing administration and nursing practice enhances the relationship between the science and the practice of nursing care.
Influences on nursing science of other disciplines. As every patient is different with different religion, beliefs, and views, “Florence Nightingale sought to unify science and religion in a way that would bring order, meaning, and purpose to human life through some of her radical, and lesser known, writings” (Jarrin, 2007, p. 79). With the other theories described above, the nursing science has influenced other disciplines such as philosophy, education, anthropology, social sciences, and psychology such as Neuman’s