origin of nursing
Even though the origin of nursing is predated from the mid-19th century, the history of professional nursing first began with Florence Nightingale. A registered nurse is a nurse that has graduated from nursing programs and meets all the requirement that are outlined by the state. The registration of qualified nurses by the nursing council started in the early 20th century. New Zealand is said to have registered the first nurse through the establishment of a nurse’s registration act in 1901. For any nurse to get registered, they were supposed to complete three years of training and achieving a good grade in the state administration examination. The registration ensured that there was a degree of consistency in educating of the new nurses with the title being protected by law.
The registration cat permitted the authorities to have a degree of control over who qualified to be admitted in the profession. However, the requirements varied depending on location, but mostly they entailed stipulations that one must have good character (Mackey, & Bassendowski, 2017). On the other hand, so much has changed in the medical field more so the registered nurse sector. First, when one is acquiring a nursing degree, two significant benefits accompany them, the personal benefits and patient’s benefit.
The role of registered nurses has changed for the last 50 years where there is the need of nurses getting highly trained, being well educated and one being a critical thinker which is a requirement for making complex clinical decisions which registered nurse in 1900s would not decide on. Further, the population’s health needs have also changed, which has triggered altered in work done by registered nurses. This has led to changes in education and training for ensuring that the busses and midwives can play a new or complex role. On the other hand, technology is changing how registered nurses do their work. The internet has destroyed the paternalism, which used to be at the heart of healthcare (Mackey, & Bassendowski, 2017). Instead of registered nurses controlling the health of the workers, they control now allow patients to manage their care and to voice all their health needs. It has led to changes in the patient’s provider dynamics in a positive way.
Previously, registered nurses were unionized since they were granted the right of unionizing by national labour relations act 40 years ago. At that time report from the bureau of labour, statistics shows that 20.4% of the registered nurses belonged to the collective bargaining unit. However, this has changed where currently there is not any single labour union which represent the nurses. Instead, there are different unions which perform the role of collective bargaining on behalf of RNs and LVNs as well as healthcare employees with the management of a particular healthcare facility (Mackey, & Bassendowski, 2017). An example is from the “The Weekend” by Priscilla and Gritty shows that in the nursing industry unions they help in protecting workers where they fight for their rights through strikes.
Further, a registered nurse is still a prestigious profession as it was before. It is such a respected profession in the United States depending on states NPs and CRNAs. There are so many obstacles to improve the nursing profession. This is because of rigid hospital traditions of prestige which still affect the nursing field. Even though registered nurses belong to the intellectual class, they are always insecure about their status, and they are at the risk of being pushed to working-class status. Currently registered nurses are required to make displays of excessively professional attitudes, devoid of emotional contents which are such as stunt for their professional growth and emotional growth (Deme et al., 2019). Additionally, the importance of registered nurses has not changed drastically to the current society since nurses play a vital role in the medical field, which means they are an essential part. An example is from the book of “major problems in American business history” By Regina Lee and Philip Scranton that is designed in encouraging critical thinking in registered nurses and how culture has changed in that field.
In future, the registered nursing field is expected to change taking a new direction. Due to technology, there will be innovative methods that will help in improving the registered nurse life to enable team collaboration and offering immediate access to patient information. There will be high access to technology by nurses, such as the use of portable technology and more emphasis on telemedicine in underserved areas. Through increment in electronic health records, then hospitals will keep track of the patient information digitally. There is a change in care delivery where today we have health care facilities such as retail clinics and ambulatory surgery centres that aim to serve the patients outside the hospital setting giving nurses more opportunities of providing their services (Mackey, & Bassendowski, 2017). It is expected that there will be patient changes, such as changes in patient interactions. For instance, as the population changes, there is more demand for healthcare which in turn demand nurses that have skills in gerontology and ageing patient care. Additionally, with the new trend, registered nurses are said to be pursing for continuation in education to acquire RN to BSN. Moreover, research has shown that there are now low mortality rates, medical errors, as well as there are positive healthcare outcomes.
References
Mackey, A., & Bassendowski, S. (2017). The history of evidence-based practice in nursing education and practice. Journal of Professional Nursing, 33(1), 51-55.
Deme, M., Thomas, Q., & Walker, A. (2019). From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: Reading about Labor in the United States. Navigations: A First-Year College Composite, 3(1), 6.
Johnston, T. C. (2017). Antebellum Southern US Content in Business History Courses.