Nursing profession has evolved greatly over time, moving from dependence upon total medical direction providing basic care into an independent practice modality with its own nursing theory practice, nursing models, and distinct nursing interventions. Nursing theories have been developed by many of nursing theorists who have contributed to the development of professional nursing practice into the current practice of professional nursing.
Nursing is moving further towards the future in improving itself as a profession for better care and service to the community. Working with children in the foster care system; the children seems to have an abundant of behavioral problems; primarily due to them separated from their parents or the abuse that they may have encountered.
As a nurse caring for these children I not only focus on their medical problems, but also on their behavioral problems (mental health needs) as well to manage their health needs. The objective of this paper is to discuss the historical development of nursing timeline; relationship of nursing science on the profession and influences nursing science has on other disciplines. Historical Development Timeline
1900’s – The history of professional nursing begins with Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale was known as the first theorist (George, 2011). She looked at the relationship between patient death ratio and the patients environmental factors. As a result of her observations, the Environmental Theory of nursing was developed. The Environment Theory is a patient-care theory; the focus of nursing in this model is to alter the patient’s environment in order to affect change in his or her health. Nightingale differentiated between nursing and medicine and created the concern that nurses be involved with the health, wellness, and treating the patient as a whole being, (Alligood, 2010).
1920’s – Behaviorism is a philosophy of psychology, which has a profound influence on the understanding of mental and behavioral aspects of life. Behaviorist theory is based on the concept of learning, which refers to relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge due to experience. Skinner believed that we do have such a thing as a mind, but that it is simply more productive to study observable behavior rather than internal mental events. Skinner believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. He called this approach Operant Conditioning. Several psychotherapeutic interventions have been developed based on behaviorism for conditions such as phobia, anxiety disorders and behavior problems in children.
1968 – Dorothy Johnson defines nursing as “an external regulatory force which acts to preserve the organization and integration of the patients behaviors at an optimum level under those conditions in which the behaviors constitutes a threat to the physical or social health or in which illness is found”. Johnson’s Behavior System Model focuses on the behavior of the patient and how the nurse may interpret different patient behaviors to care for the patient, (Alligood, 2010). Johnson has broken the patient’s behavior down into seven subsystems and each with four structural characteristics. It is the nurse’s responsibility not to only focus on the medical part of the patient, but also to focus on the behavioral system, (Current Nursing, n.d.).
1988 – Anne Casey is an English nurse who developed a nursing theory as Casey’s Model of Nursing. The model was developed in 1988 while she was working in pediatric oncology. Casey’s Model is designed specifically for child health nursing. This model focuses on the nurse working in partnership with the child and his family; the five aspects of this nursing theory are child, family, health, environment, and the nurse. The philosophy of Casey’s model states that, the best people to care for the child are the members of the family, with health care professionals assisting. This requires a relationship between the parents and the nurse. Relationship Between Nursing Science and the Profession
Practicing nursing as a profession is based upon nursing science, which is a body of knowledge that is developed through formulation of theories. Through knowledge of theories, models, and philosophies leads the nurse to promote better patient care through his or her education and experience. Influence on Nursing Science of other Discipline
Nursing science clearly has great influences on other discipline. It plays a key role in fulfilling their purposes. As a nurse working with children in foster care; nursing is intertwine with psychology at my workplace. In psychology, assessing the needs of their clients is an important step to know what treatment is appropriate. In psychiatric nursing, therapeutic communication is the main tool for patient-nurse interaction.
In conclusion, the history of nursing had evolved to make the profession better. These theories throughout time will continue to guide nurses to become competent in both skills and knowledge as they fulfill their roles as healthcare providers. Today nursing is an interdisciplinary profession will always be essential in the society as it delivers is services in the health care system.