how nursing developed?

1. Developing Definition
of Nursing

2. Early definition of Nursing
• A nurse is a person who nourishes, fosters
(raises), and protects— or
• a person who is prepared to care for the sick,
injured, and aged.
• “nurse” is used as a noun and is derived from
the Latin nutrix, which means “nursing
mother.”

3. • Dictionary definitions of nurse include such
descriptions as “suckles or nourishes,” “to take
care of a child or children,” and “to bring up;
rear.”
• In this way, “nurse” is used as a verb, deriving
from the Latin nutrire, which means “to suckle
and nourish.”

4. Commonly used definition is
• Florence Nightingale, in her Notes on Nursing:
What It Is and What It Is Not, described the
nurse’s role as one that would “put the
patient in the best condition for nature to act
upon him” (Nightingale, 1954, p. 133),

5. American Nurses Association (ANA)
definition of nursing is:
• Nursing is the protection, promotion, and
optimization of health and abilities,
prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of
suffering through the diagnosis and treatment
of human response, and advocacy in the care
of individuals, families, communities, and
populations (ANA, 2010).

6. National Council of State Boards of
Nursing (NCSBN)
• The Practice of Nursing means assisting clients
to attain or maintain optimal health,
implementing a strategy of care to accomplish
defined goals within the context of a client-
centered health care plan, and evaluating
responses to nursing care and treatment
(NCSBN, Article II, Section 1, 2006).

7. Defining Nursing for the Future
• The definition of nursing will continue to grow
as the profession grow and responsibilities
change. In addition, Nursing will become more
closer to other profession e.g: law, theology
(religious perspectives), and education.

8. Influences on the Definition of
Nursing:
number of factors have influenced the definition of nursing
1. technologic advances: diagnostic imaging,
sophisticated laboratory tests, delicate
medical procedures, and specialized critical
care
2. the work of nursing theorists: many nursing
theorists developed definitions of nursing
Table 1.7 e.g:

9. Distinguishing Nursing From Medicine
(try to guess from the given figure)
1. 2. 3.

10. Distinguishing Nursing From Medicine
1. The primary differences between nursing and
medicine are the purpose and goal of each
profession and the education needed to fulfill
each role.
2. Further, historically, medicine was perceived as a
profession for men and nursing as a profession
for women
3. Finally, the subservient (obedient) role of the
nurse in relationship to the physician in the
past—often referred to as the handmaiden of
the physician.

11. Differentiate between nursing and
medicine role?
medicine
• involved with the cure of a
patient
nursing
• Involved with the care of
that patient
• Involves teaching about
health and the prevention
of illness,
• caring for the ill individual
• case management inside
and outside the walls of
hospitals.

12. • In 1958, Virginia Henderson, a nurse educator,
author, and researcher, was asked by the nursing
service committee of the International Council of Nurses (ICN)
to describe her concept of basic nursing. Hers is still one of
the most widely accepted definitions of nursing:
• The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual,
sick or well, in the performance of those activities
contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful
death) that he would perform unaided if he had the
necessary strength, will or knowledge. And to do this in
such a way as to help him gain independence as rapidly as
possible. (Henderson, 1966, p. 15)

13. • From approximately the 1950s through the 1970s or
mid-1980s, nursing periodically was reviewed against
the characteristics of a profession that had been
established in the sociologic literature.
• Some critics believe that nursing falls short of meeting
these criteria. Amid these challenges, nurses have
worked to advance the standing of nursing through the
development of a code of ethics, standards of practice,
and peer review.
• Table 1.8 outlines the seven major criteria for a
profession and briefly discusses how nursing is meeting
them or falls short of doing so.

14. Table 1.8 How Nursing Meets the
Traditional Criteria for a Profession*
CRITERION HOW NURSING MEETS THE CRITERION
Ownership of a Body
of Specialized Knowledge
Critics state that nursing borrows from
biologic sciences, social sciences, and
medical science, and then combines the
various skills and concepts.
Use of Scientific
Method to Enlarge
the Body of Knowledge
systematically gathering and analyzing
data, correctly identifying problems,
selecting alternates, and evaluating
patient care through Evidence-
based practice and evidence-based
education
Education Within
Institutions of Higher
Education
the settings in which nurses are educated
have changed, with most
Programs under the supports of colleges
or universities with different nursing
programs (associate degree versus
baccalaureate degree)

15. Table 1.8 How Nursing Meets the
Traditional Criteria for a Profession*
CRITERION HOW NURSING MEETS THE CRITERION
Control of Professional
Policy, Professional
Activity, and
Autonomy
nurses are responsible for planning,
implementing, and evaluating the care
patients receive and are accountable for
that care. Nursing policies, standards of
practice, and evaluative measures have
been developed by nurses
A Code of Ethics It is available from United States (ANA
Code for Nurses) , and International
Council of Nurses also has developed a
code for nurses that sets the standards of
ethical practice by nurses throughout the
world

16. Table 1.8 How Nursing Meets the
Traditional Criteria for a Profession*
CRITERION HOW NURSING MEETS THE CRITERION
Nursing as Lifetime
Commitment
Most nurses view themselves as
committed to their profession and
continue to identify
themselves as nurses long after they
retire.
Service to the Public Although discussion occurs with regard to
humanity, salary for services, and
collective bargaining there is no question
that nursing provides a service to the
people.

17. Differentiating Between the Terms
“Profession” and “Professional”
• A Profession as Defined by Legislation:
• federal legislation has helped to establish a list of the characteristics of a
professional. Public Law 93-360 (Labor Management Relations Act, 1947):
 Any employee engaged in work (i) mostly intellectual and varied in
character as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical
work;
 (ii) involving the consistent exercise of decisions and judgment in its
performance;
 (iii) of such a character that the output produced or the result
accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time;
 (iv) requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or
learning habitually acquired by a prolonged course of specialized
intellectual instruction and study in an institution of higher learning or a
hospital, as distinguished from a general academic education or

18. • Any employee, who
• (i) has completed the courses of specialized
intellectual instruction and
• (ii) is performing related work under the
supervision of a professional person to qualify
himself to become a professional employee

19. Now do you see nursing is a
professional or not?
• Based on this definition, all RNs are
considered professionals (Fig. 1.4).

20. Thank You
