Nursing Thoery Timeline

Development of Nursing Timeline Since the beginning of the Nursing profession, many theorists have presented multiple theories. Nursing theorists have used many definitions to develop and support their work. Their views of nursing theory are based upon their spiritual, personal, educational, political, and socioeconomic experiences. Credited with the first nursing theorist, Florence Nightingale believed in well-educated nurses practicing independently. According to Schulyer, 1992 “In the 1800’s a physician described the nurses of the times as “dull unobservant women; of the best it could only be said that they were kindly and careful and attentive in doing what they were told”. Florence Nightingale believed nurses needed to be taught, “what to observe- how to observe- what symptoms indicate improvement- what the reverse –which are of importance-which are of none-which are the evidence of neglect- and what kind of neglect” (Nightingale, 1992, p.59). What Nightingale is describing here is the process of gathering information and figuring out which information is relevant. Nightingale was a brilliant statistician that wrote extensively on sanitation conditions. By demonstrating her methods she could decrease mortality rates. She could demonstrate her methods during the Crimean War. She proved that more soldiers were dying in the hospital than on the battlefields. With much difficulty and persistence she could change the Army’s practice and implement sanitary conditions in the hospital. The mortality rate dropped (Schuyler, 1992). Guided by her spiritual beliefs, and her calling to improve the human condition, Florence Nightingale set the foundation for nurse’s, and influenced nursing as an altruistic profession, caring for the whole person, mind, body, and spirit.

1950 The 1950s presented Madeline Leininger, who developed the first transcultural theory in nursing. The Culture Care theory was implemented by Madeline Leininger as a need related to

References: Tourville, RN, BSN, C., and Ingalls, RN, MA, K. (2003, Jul-Sep). The Living Tree of Nursing Theories. Nursing Forum, 38(3), 21-30. Leininger, M. (1996) Culture care theory, research, and practice. Nursing Science Quarterly, 9(2), 72-75. McQuiston, C.M., & Webb, A. (1995). Foundations of nursing theory. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. Roy, C. (1997). Future of the Roy model: Challenge to redefine adaptation. Nursing Science Quarterly, 10(1), 43-47. Schuyler, C.B. (1992). Florence Nightingale. In D.P. Carroll (Ed.), Notes on nursing (commemorative ed., pp. 3-17). Philadelphia: Lippincott Fawcett, J. (1996). On the requirements for a metaparadigm: An invitation to dialogue. Nursing Science Quarterly, 9(3), 94-101.