NUR 110 THEORY

CHAPTER 1

EARLY NURSES:
 Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth early care providers to slaves
 Dorthea Dix provided nursing care during Civil War
 Florence Nightengale is credited with being the first Nurse Theorist
 Clara Barton worked for Red Cross as volunteer nurse
 Linda Richards America’s first trained nurse
 Mary Mahoney was the first African American professional nurse
 Lillian Wald founder of public nursing

CONTEMPORARY NURSING PRACTICE:

 Includes definitions of nursing
o Nursing is caring
o Nursing is art
o Nursing is a science
o Nursing is patient oriented
o Nursing is holistic
o Nursing is adaptive
o Nursing is concerned with health promotion, health maintenance, and
health restoration
o Nursing is a helping profession
 Recipients of nursing
o Consumer is an individual, group of people or community that uses
service or commodity
o Patient is a person who is waiting for or undergoing medical treatment and
care
 Scope of nursing
o Nursing provide care for 3 types of patients: individuals, families and
communities
o Promoting health and wellness
o Preventing illness
o Restoring health
o Caring for the dying
 Settings for nursing practice
o Hospitals
o Patient homes
o Community agencies
o Ambulatory clinics
o Long term care facilities
 o Health maintenance organizations
o Nursing practice centers
 Nurse Practice acts
o Legal acts for professional nursing practice, regulate the practice of
nursing in the US and Canada
 Current Standards of Clinical nursing practice
o Purpose of the ANA Standards of Practice is to describe the respnsibilities
for which nurse are accountable
o The ANA Standards of Professional Performance describe behaviors
expected in the professional nursing role

ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF NURSE

 Caregiver
o A person who provides those activities that assist the patient physically
and psychologically while preserving the client’s dignity (spiritual levels,
cultural, and developmental)
 Communicator
o Nurses identify client problems and then communicate these verbally or in
writing to other members of the health team.
o The quality of a nurse’s communication is an important factor in nursing
care
 Teacher
o The nurse helps clients learn about their health and the health care
procedures they need to perform to restore or maintain their health
 Client Advocate
o Protects patient. Represents the patient’s needs and wishes
 Counselor
o Helps client to recognize and cope with stressful psychologic or social
problems to develop improved interpersonal relations and promote
personal growth
 Change Agent
o Assists patient in modifying behaviors
 Leader
o Influences others to work together to accomplish a specific goal
 Manager
o Nurse manages the nursing care of individuals, families, and communities
o Delegates activities to ancillary workers and other nurses, and supervisors
 Case Manager
o Measure effectiveness of the case management plan and to monitor
outcomes
 Research Consumer
o Nurses often use research to improve client care
CRITERIA OF A PROFESSION
 Profession: defined as an occupation that requires extensive education or a calling
that requires specific knowledge, skill, and preparation
 Professionalism: Professional character, spirit or methods

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION
 Governance: The establishment and maintenance of social, political, and
economic arrangements by which practitioners control their practice, their self-
discipline, their working conditions, and their professional affairs

Brenner’s Stages of Nursing Expertise

 Stage 1, Novice
 Stage 2, Advanced beginner
 Stage 3, Competent
 Stage 4, Proficient
 Stage 5, Expert

Socialization:
The process by which people:
 Learn to become members of groups and society
 Learn the social rules defining relationships they will enter into to
 The goal is to instill in individuals the norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors
deemed essential for survival of the profession

Critical Values of Nursing:

 Develops, clarifies, and internalizes professional values

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONTEMPORARY NURSING

 Economics
o Diagnostic related groups(DRGs): reimbursement of medical fees based
on the patient medical diagnosis
 Consumer Demands
 Family Structure
 Science and Technology
 Information and Telecommunications
 Legislation
  Demography

CURRENT NURSING SHORTAGE

 Develop programs that allow the process to move quickly and efficiently
 Collective Bargaining allows nurses to unionize

NURSING ORGANIZATIONS
 American Nurses Association
 National League for Nursing
 National Student Nurses Association
 International Honor Society: Sigma Theta Tau