Introduction
The nursing practice, especially advanced nursing has not had much research. The term is useful to apply simply to a range of roles like the nurse practitioner, specialist and consultant including various other terms. Many issues around the study of roles of nursing are from the ‘ad hoc’ establishment of poorly understood roles that receive irregular professional and organization support (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010). There is a worldwide need to research towards workplace planning processes and organizational structures to develop, establish and assess nursing roles efficiently. The establishment of the role of nursing first promotion was in the American historical records in the 1970s. The literature dwelt on advanced practice and clinical nurse practitioners. In the UK, the introduction of the profession was in the early 1980s. The role of nursing in the UK was in contrast to the practice in the U.S and Australia. The nursing profession development was only vivid when there was a proposal to have it as an additional role towards the end of 20th Century (Doody, 2013). The profession has the capability to implement wide-base improvements in the health care system (ANA, 2010). It has more than 3 million members, which shows tremendous changes since 1989s. It also holds the largest proportion of the U.S health care system.
They possess a scientific understanding of primary care and so their close interaction with patients gives them ample opportunities to act as full partners in health. They can also act as leaders in steering improvements and advances in the health care system (ANA, 2010). They have different levels of education and literacy and some even possess licenses. They provide the most primary care in hospitals and nursing homes. Others like nurse scientists provide intensive research and assess more efficient ways of providing health care.
Development of the role of nursing
The role of nursing first recognition was in the 16th Century in the Western countries. Ellen Wright from St. Botolph Aldgate in London was caring for sick people from 1588-1599. Also, there are evidences of parish nurses in London working in the early 1700s. They use to take in sickly people and take good care of them. Nursing evolution covers a body of knowledge, education and special forms of practice (ANA, 2010). They operate with certain standards of practice, a societal contract and a code of ethics. With such a background, the general nursing profession and its members concerns itself with the availability and ease of access to the societal communities. Nurses seek to ensure that the practice upholds a high degree of integrity in the past, current and future frameworks.
In the history of nursing, healthcare had dominations in the battlefields, poor houses, and industrial revolutions at the beginning of the 19th Century. The profession’s roots go back to both Europe and America. Initial training was in hospitals and employments in private care to clients based at home.
Foundations of the practice
Florence Nightingale is the basis for the foundation of the nursing profession. She has the basics of nursing as an autonomous profession very different from medicine. She takes the responsibility of identifying the significance of the collection of empirical records and underpinning of the present day evidence-based practices (ANA, 2010. She always thought that the most important lesson to nurses would be one about learning about how to observe and what symptoms show improvement. Others, she said, would show symptoms of neglect and the kind of neglect at that particular instance.
Nurse researchers and theories came about towards the end of the 20th Century. They made tremendous contributions to the developing body of nursing with extensive studies and development of nursing models and theories (Doody, 2014). The models would borrow from other closely related areas like sociology, biology, and psychology. In the 1980s, there were establishment to earliest models of nursing practices. Moreover, additional models came about from the development of nursing leaders. With time, there were expansions of the theories that were a definition and elaboration of the nursing profession.
Reception of nursing into the world
The first case of expansion of nursing into public health was due to at-risk communities and vulnerable societies. Moving towards the final years of the 19th Century, there were pioneers of public health nursing in New York City. Even Colleges could now offer the very first university program for graduate nurses and nurse specialists (Doody, 2014). There was a surge of demand for nurses who could teach other nurses and the community at large. There already were great advancements in nursing by the mid- 20th Century. There were certifications and special forms of nursing education in both traditional and modern forms of the practice including pediatrics, midwifery, and emergency responses.
Conclusion
The nursing profession goes beyond continuum from health advancements to prevention and control of disease outbreaks. It covers palliative care where cure is not available and provision of cure when possible (ANA, 2010). The practice matches up to the current needs of the modern health care of the American population and the world at large. Nurses are directly proportional to healthcare. They cover the widest evaluations and examinations of patients and primary care in hospitals and nursing homes (Doody, 2014). They are leaders in ensuring delivery of safe primary care. Nurses work holistically to surpass the physical health care and respond to social, mental and psychological needs. With the education, expertise and special roles in providing health care, nurses are quite significant in the overall transformation of health care system.
The foundation of nursing as a practice came to be in the 19th Century due to the influence of Florence Nightingale. She is the most notable icon of the history of nursing due to her work in providing quality nursing care for the Briton army during the war. She made encouragements to other nurses to take good care of the sick even beyond the sick collection centers. The aim of nursing is to improve the health and protection of societies to prevent mortality and enhance life expectancy (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010). In the succession of the next Century Plus, the profession and its practice faces expansion to almost every angle of health care provision.
References
American Nurses Association (ANA) (2010). Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (Second Ed.)
Doody, O. (2014). The role and development of consultancy in nursing practice. British Journal of Nursing, 23(1), 32-39
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2010). Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine. A journal of the future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health
Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom nursing essay writing services.
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Part two- annotated bibliography
Introduction
Commitment of nurses to enhancing health care delivery is an unending undertaking. They face challenges everyday to discover their full potential. There is dire need for transformations in the nursing profession in practice, education and leadership. Their main goals should involve practice to the full extent of their education and training. They should also aim at highest levels of education and partner fully with health care practitioners in the improvement of the U.S health system. Nursing leadership should ensure excellent workforce plans with better data collection and enhanced information center for all nurses. There is a worldwide need to research towards workplace planning processes and organizational structures to develop, establish and assess nursing roles efficiently. Advances in the healthcare systems led to the establishment of other nursing practices. There was improvement in nursing education, training and leadership which connected both traditional and modern methods of the nursing profession. There was the introduction of evidence-based practice that led to the major evolutions of the nursing profession.
Doody, O. (2014), retrieved from the role and development of consultancy in nursing practice. British Journal of Nursing, 23(1), 32-39
Doody talks about consultancy in nursing. He relates to the term and its application to advanced nursing practices like specialist, nurse practitioner and advanced clinical nurse. He mentions the confusion in healthcare systems where the term can refer to either roles of a nurse or useful in traditional medical reference. The development in the nursing profession as a consultant has been in close reference to general consultancy. Whoever holds the role is not the matter but more of the expertise of the person in question. His whole article covers a description of the consultancy in nursing, its development, application and future opportunities regarding it.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2010). Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine. A journal of the future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health
The basic goals of the Institute of Medicine are to call for experts to discuss and evaluate possible solutions to the challenges facing the healthcare system of the United States and the world at large. They then evaluate the way forward of how to implement these solutions and improve the state of the health care system. The systems of health in the U.S are beginning to change and the impacts are about to fill the air. At this juncture, the IOM appoints a committee to address these issues and evaluate the best possible solutions.
The committee’s report of 2010 discusses nurses’ commitment to deliver high-quality health care under the present day organizational structure and regulations of the health care system. If there are to be any future improvements to these conditions, the power does not lie entirely on nurses. Although efficient leadership and highest educational levels might help to effect change, the nursing department cannot impact changes solely. The responsibility lies with political institutions, economic forces and other health care institutions. The report further makes recommendations to policy legislatures, political leaders and healthcare researchers to come together and work towards changing the design of the health care system. The committee argues that these groups should work towards excellent, accessible and affordable as well as patient-oriented healthcare with a basis for evidence-based practices.
American Nurses Association (ANA) (2010). Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (Second Ed.)
The American Nurses Association (ANA) is an association of nurse practitioners and specialists nationwide. The article reflects the works of a specialist nurse on different issues. The article covers history of nursing from the 19th to 20th Century. It mentions that cases of interest in nursing practices were on the rise in the mid 20th Century. Afterwards, the nursing practice was already on theoretical and conceptual structures of the profession. Gradually, more nurses were into research and studying how to improve health care.
Towards the end of the 20th Century, tremendous numbers of qualified nurse researchers were emerging and more computer technology for collection of evidence. The National Center for Nursing Research Introduction marked nursing into the mainstream of health care research. The report also talks about evidence-based practice (EBP) as a scholarly solution to problems and results in the delivery of high-quality health care.
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