Nursing Passed Down Through Generations

Nursing Passed Down Through the Generations
Everyone has probably noticed all of the changes in technology in the last fifty years. Now there are cell phones, tablets, home computers, and so much more. All of these devices are often used every day by all kinds of people in all different professions. People use cell phones to call their bosses and other people around the world for business. Some people use computers all day every day for bookkeeping, journaling and various other jobs. Many people in the medical field use computers, cellphones, and so many other kinds of technology every day, especially nurses. Technology is not the only advancement or change in nursing, there has also been changes in medications, uniforms, racial and gender
According to Charlene Boyle, a retired nurse, in her interview stated while she worked they had to write all of the patients’ information down and papers and information got lost or accidentally thrown away. In her last few years working the hospitals and doctor’s offices started to get computers in all the hospitals and she said it was a huge change. She said that the computers helped keep the information more organized and easier to find (Boyle Interview). In the article by Julie Blanche called Nursing 50 Years Back and Today: How the Nursing Field Has Changed over the Last 50 Years, she says, “Nurses also benefited from wireless technology, as they were able to bring their laptop computers into the patient rooms so they could perform other functions, such as admissions work, while keeping an eye on the patients” (Blanche 2). Technology did not only help nurses keep track of patient information, machines and other devices were created to help nurses better treat patients with health
Charlene Boyle, a retired nurse, stated that by her senior year she was running the floor along with the other seniors in her class. She also said “I had to go to school for three years with one month off a year. Currently to be a Registered Nurse or RN, you have to go to school for four years with your summers off” (Boyle Interview). In A History of American Nursing: Trends and Eras by Deborah Judd, Kathleen Sitzman, and Megan Davis state until the 1960s, most nurses were diploma nurses, nurses who only had their high school diploma, and their education was provided by a hospital or hospital school, not a college or university. Judd, Sitzman, and Davis also state “Nursing has debated two questions related to education for almost 50 years. First, what should the entry level of education be for practice as a registered nurse – associate or baccalaureate? Secondly, should all nurses be required to participate in continuing education as a part of active or inactive practice?” (Judd, Davis, and Sitzman 187). The book by Davis, Judd, and Sitzman included a survey asking nurses what level of education they have received. According to the survey, 34% of the nurses interviewed have received their associate’s degree, 31% have their baccalaureates degree, 10% have earned their master’s degree or PhD, 16 % have their associate’s degree and are working towards their baccalaureates degree, and 3% are diploma nurses (Judd, Davis,