A Career in the Field of Nursing

14 Pages 3412 Words

records symptoms, reactions, and progress of patients; administers medications; helps rehabilitate patients; instructs patients and family members in proper health care; and helps maintain a physical and emotional environment that promotes recovery”. A nurse does not help only individuals, they also help families and groups achieve health and prevent disease. The definition “nursing” refers to the functions that a person will do after formal education and training. Although there are many definitions of nursing, most people say that nursing is a career that requires a nurse to help a sick or injured person.
Many of these definitions were developed throughout history. Nursing began with Florence Nightingale around the 1850’s. During the first few years of nursing, a nurse’s main responsibility was to help a person maintain personal hygiene. In China, medicine men would use charms to try to heal the sick and injured but they were smart and sophisticated enough to use female nurses for childbirth. When a career in nursing first began, many nurses were looked at as uneducated women who couldn’t care for themselves. Nurses were looked down on and mainly cared for homeless and poor families. Many years after Nightingale, careers in nursing have multiplied and nurses are looked up to and are recognized now more than ever. Boston, Massachusetts had the privilege of housing the first school of nursing in 1873. Since the first nursing school was opened, the training a nurse will go through has dramatically changed. Throughout the history of nursing two goals have developed to promote the health of individuals and society and to put a person in the best condition for nature to act upon him.
Everybody knows that a nurse provides services to the sick and injured, and these days, nurses are doing more research to produce more knowledge. A nurse is part of a team of many other nurses and doctors. This team of nurses ...