Nursing

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For other uses, see Nursing (disambiguation).

"Nurse" and "Nurses" redirect here. For other uses, see Nurse (disambiguation).

Nurse
Occupation
A British nurse caring for a baby
Names	Nurse
Occupation type	Healthcare professional
Activity sectors	Health care
Description
Competencies	Caring for general well-being of patients
Education required	Qualifications in terms of statutory regulations according to national, state, or provincial legislation in each country

Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life.

Nurses may be differentiated from other health care providers by theirapproach to patient care, training, and scope of practice. Nurses practice in a wide diversity of practice areas with a different scope of practice and level ofprescriber authority in each. Many nurses provide care within the ordering scope of physicians, and this traditional role has come to shape the historic public image of nurses as care providers. However, nurses are permitted by most jurisdictions to practice independently in a variety of settings depending on training level. In the postwar period, nurse education has undergone a process of diversification towards advanced and specialized credentials, and many of the traditional regulations and provider roles are changing.^[1]^[2]

Nurses develop a plan of care, working collaboratively with physicians, therapists, the patient, the patient's family and other team members, that focuses on treating illness to improve quality of life. In the U.S. (and increasingly the United Kingdom), advanced practice nurses, such as clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners, diagnose health problems and prescribe medications and other therapies, depending on individual state regulations. Nurses may help coordinate the patient care performed by other members of an interdisciplinary health care team such as therapists, medical practitioners and dietitians. Nurses provide care both interdependently, for example, with physicians, and independently as nursing professionals.

Introduction to Nursing

19th century[edit]

Florence Nightingale was an influential figure in the development of modern nursing. No uniform had been created when Florence Nightingale was employed during the Crimean War. Both nursing role and education were first defined by Florence Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale laid the foundations of professional nursing during the Crimean War.^[14]Her Notes on Nursing became popular. The Nightingale model of professional education, having set up the first school of nursing that is connected to a continuously operating hospital and medical school, spread widely in Europe and North America after 1870.^[15]

Other important nurses in the development of the profession include:

Agnes Hunt from Shropshire was the first orthopedic nurse and was pivotal in the emergence of the orthopedic hospital The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire.
Agnes Elizabeth Jones and Linda Richards, who established quality nursing schools in the USA and Japan; Linda Richards was officially America's first professionally trained nurse, graduating in 1873 from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston
Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton, a pioneer American teacher, patent clerk, nurse, and humanitarian, and the founder of the American Red Cross.
Saint Marianne Cope, a Sister of St Francis who opened and operated some of the first general hospitals in the United States, instituting cleanliness standards which influenced the development of America's modern hospital system.^[16]

Catholic orders such as Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of St. Mary, St. Francis Health Services, Inc. and Sisters of Charity built hospitals and provided nursing services during this period.^{[citation needed]} In turn, the modern deaconess movement began in Germany in 1836.^[17] Within a half century there were over 5,000 deaconesses in Europe.^[18]

Formal use of nurses in the modern military began in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Nurses saw active duty in theFirst Boer War, the Egyptian Campaign (1882)^[19] and the Sudan Campaign (1883).^[20]