LaMarcianA's Nursing PaGe

Nursing is a profession focused on assisting individuals, families, and communities in attaining, maintaining, and recovering optimal health and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing define it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life.

In pre-modern times, nuns and military often provided nursing-like services. The religious and military roots of pre-modern nursing remain in evidence today. For example, in Britain, senior female nurses are known as sisters. Some important nurses were Agnes Elizabeth Jones and Linda Richards who established quality nursing schools in the USA and Japan. Linda Richards was officially America's first trained nurse, graduating in 1873 from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston.

Below is a portrait of Florence Nightingale and her sister. Nightingale is often regarded as the founder of modern nursing, which flourished in response to the Crimean War.
On September 12, 1901, New Zealand was the first country to regulate nursing nationally with the adoption of the Nurses Registration Act. Ellen Dougherty was the first Registered Nurse. In 1903, North Carolina was the first state in the United States to pass a nursing licensure law.

My name is Stephanie Hudson and I am a Registered Nurse in North Carolina. Though the nursing profession has changed and developed tremendously over the last century, the basic principles of nursing practice are still noticeable today!
Today, nursing is defined by the American Nurses Association as 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 healthcare for individuals, families, communities, and populations.

THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE PLEDGE

I solemnly pledge myself before God and presence of this assembly;
To pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully.
I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous
and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug.
I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard
of my profession and will hold in confidence all personal matters
committed to my keeping and family affairs coming to my
knowledge in the practice of my calling.
With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work,
and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.

Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art,
It requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation,
as any painter's or sculptor's work;
for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble,
compared with having to do with the living body,
the temple of God's spirit?
It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.

Florence Nightingale

Today, Nursing is a lot more than just backrubs. Even duties such as blood pressure monitoring and medication passing have become just a very basic part of the over all nursing practice. Today's nurses must be able to do all of the very basic care needs, as well as critically think and plan out treatments that are designed with specific goals in mind and under the consideration of the individual patient's needs.

Needless to say, it can get a little craZy sometimes!! And, a lot of us wonder are we ever really getting anywhere!

The truth is, nurses have become the center of healthcare! Nurses are the pulse that keeps healthcare moving. We have circulated through the body of heath care and can be found in almost every avenue of health and medicine, ranging from teachers to scientific researchers.

National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

Did you know?
National Nurses Week was first observed October 11-16, 1954. It marked the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's famous mission to Crimea.

1974 In January of that year, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) proclaimed that May 12 would be "International Nurse Day." (May 12 is the birthday of Florence Nightingale.) Since 1965, the ICN has celebrated "International Nurse Day."

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